“[…] ‘Shhhh, you don’t want her seeing you. Quick, turn your clothes inside out.’ “‘Her?’ I peeked over the rock, the horrific sight on the other side made me double over. ‘That thing’s a her?’ “There’re few words to describe what I saw, monstrous is one of them. Her dark …
Read More »Culturecide, subversion and African hair: Dr Fergus on ‘Dada’ hair and ‘Bantu’ knots
The scale of natural justice weighs negatively against the Ministry of Education for allowing 2019 to end without unambiguously prohibiting discrimination against natural African hair texture and basic African hairstyles, and mandating school administrators to root out the practice whenever it rears its ugly head. Ultimately, it might necessitate amending …
Read More »Dear editor: The issue of African hairstyles in T&T schools is neither resolved nor frivolous
“At issue is the widespread, pernicious and fundamentally racist belief that the hair and hairstyles of African people are not suitable for formal settings and are intrinsically messy, unkempt, unhygienic and even disruptive. The insidious nature of this deeply ingrained idea encapsulated in the popular phrase ‘bad hair’ guarantees that …
Read More »Gilkes: Post-colonial or decolonial? How tired racist standards persist in T&T
Wha allyuh vex with St Stephen’s College for? I give them right, full marks for their stance. Was it backward and discriminatory? Yeah. Was it disrespectful and, frankly, based on old racist ideas of beauty, comportment and respectability? Of course, duh. They no doubt would justify it on the grounds …
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