genscompliques:

blck-grrl:

Be who you are. You’re beautiful.

Kathleen Cleaver of the Black Panther Party breaks down Why we wear our hair like this 1968 

you dig it?

I love this video so much.

I just hate one thing, that white people started wearing their hair like that as a fashion statement (kinda like how they wear dreads now) because like if you wear your natural hair to public places people feel justified in telling you shit like “this isn’t the 70s” or something like that, because in the 60s/70s/80s idk white people started wearing it as a fashion statement/fad and people remember that more than they remember that black people have had natural hair since forfuckingever and it’s our culture and part of who we are not just a 60s/70s/80s trend. The only reason people think it’s a 60s/70s/80s “thing” is because white people started doing it then. That’s why it really bothers me when white kids wear dreads or buy shirts with african prints on them, because very soon these fools are going to start saying “you can’t wear that anymore, it’s sooo 2011/2012” as if these things (dreads/prints) are just a fashion trend and not another persons’ culture that means so much more than a fashion statement. 

#whitepeopleruineverything (lol just kidding, but i DO hate it that white people wore “fros” back then and are now wearing dreads, prints—whether african or native american— and producing this prints themselves so non of the money goes to the actual people who created these designs first who need it most (so they remain in poverty while white businesses get richer)

Your anger is misdirected.

Don’t be angry at white people wearing a certain style, be angry at the people that give others grief for said style.  I can see your frustration with changing attitudes because a hairstyle has been acknowledged by the dominant culture and can pass like a fad when it’s really a way of life for people, but be angry at the society & the individuals that ACTUALLY tell you that natural black hair isn’t beautiful.  Not the people that embrace it and think it looks cool.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with that.

Also, I can see why you might be frustrated at ( what you call ) “white businesses” taking some elements of African design and commodifying them, and that’s OK ( or at least I’ll let it slide).  But also recognize that culture evolves, culture is not separate from economies, and everything is a derivative of something that came before it, so nobody truly “owns” anything.  To claim that a body of people have a right to a hairstyle or a way to design clothing over any other socially constructed race is ludicrous. 

tl;dr : step down and chill out.

(Source: plhh)

oh hey machu picchu.

To do.

all i want to do with my life.

(Source: kochira)