I Am Not My Hair

So attached to this note, is a picture of me, adorning my latest hair style and expressing my anger and "fed-up-ness" at this world we live in today. India Aire has a song entitled "I am not my hair" and the chorus goes:

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am not your expectations no no

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am a soul that lives within

I will admit that although the style is nice, it is a BIT unflattering on me, but I am in the middle of a process, that process is locking. I want locks. With that said, I'll begin my story.

I showed this picture to a very trusted friend today, someone that I look up to, respect, love unconditionally, would give my life for, and she asked me exactly what I was trying to prove. I said well I'm not sure I understand what you are getting at, I'm not trying to prove anything, this is one of the steps I have to take in order to get my end result, as with any process in this life. We got into a GIGANTIC "discussion" about my hair, whether or not I will be able to work with it, and the issue of why I was doing it came up. I said well because it's something that I always wanted to try, I've just always wanted to do it. That makes no sense she says, you can't provide a good reason for doing it, so you shouldn't do it. Well the last time I checked, doing something that I want to do is more than reason enough. Fine she says, but what will people say? Only people who is drink and smoke and shoot up the place lock their hair. Now I HAD to jump on that. In my opinion that statement EPITOMIZES ignorance. How can you sit there and actually say such a thing? Are you telling me that EVERY SINGLE individual with dred locks smokes, they all drink, and they all have an insanely vast criminal record? Please, please provide the evidence. "What will everyone say?" she asked.."lawd he gone foreign and come back rasta..dese young chirren ain gat no guidance". Well I'm sorry to say, but as long as human beings live and breathe, they will be insecure. That is something that will never go away. Further, it matters not the way I wear my hair, I could be bald for heaven's sake, and people would still have their 5 cents to add, as if I asked for an opinion.

It saddens me though, that in THIS day, a day of advances in technology unfathomable by my grandparents, and their children even, that HAIR is left to determine the man. My hair has NOTHING to do with who I am as an individual. It does not determine my measure as a man, it does not determine the choices I make, and it most certainly does not make me any more or less the Amad you knew without dred locks. We talk about equality, and justice for all, etc, yet, a man is criticized for the choices he makes in life, regardless of how big or small they may be. Is the woman who strips at night to feed her baby a bad person? Is the young man selling news papers on the road to pay his tuition yet another worthless drop out? We will never know will we? We don't bother to find out why people do the things they do, we simply judge, lable and condemn. I'm not trying to compare my simple choice to the more life altering ones that others may have to make in life, but the fact still remains, it's a CHOICE. If I choose to wear my hair in a fashion that is "unacceptable" to you, does that make me any less Amad? The quality of my person is not diminished, nor is the quality of my work.

I long for the day when all judgement and persecution for silly things can stop, I long for a day when an individual can be simply that; an individual without fear of condemnation. Perhaps I'm longing for something that will never happen. Regardless of what happens, the one thing I know is that I am NOT my hair.

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but us can free our minds." An open minded person lives a freer life. Think about it.

An expression of my anger and fed-up-ness.