I think the problem is in associating kinky hair with blackness and our being, rather than seeing it as genetic expression…like round eyes, or a large nose..etc. Would you define yourself by a large nose? When I write “kinky” you see it as “black”. If I say kinky hair is generally hard to control, you see as as “black is inferior”.

Even women with kinky hair use products to soften it. They're a gazillion products for kinky hair these days…if it's “natural” state was so desirable..then why use products to change it in any way? Why not leave your hair the way it is when you exit your mother's womb?

Funny you should say that..I got hit on by a white guy in the supermarket checkout line the other day..seems like he liked my blackness just fine. I – on the other hand – did not covet his massive height. You may say, this man wouldn't want to BE black… And I would respond by saying that I wouldn't want to BE white. Not because there's anything intrinsically wrong with whiteness, but because I like who I am.

What I'm getting at here…is that this line of thinking is not based on fact. In addition, I can't see how it is beneficial for black women to burden themselves with restrictions that other women are not burdened with.

Black women need to know that they are loved..straight or kinky hair.

Generally speaking…it is impossible to be happy when your actions, beliefs and feelings are being directed by others. It is antithetical to life itself…. There is a reason why you are separate from me.

rhoenix (at) gmail (dot) com is my email – hit me up.

Why Eugene got to stand up to Pat anymore than they do? Why does he have to stick his neck out when they REFUSE to corral one of their own.

I would rather have Eugene with his 'weak' commentary than not to have him at home. He still makes points, albeit not as strongly as we would like…but if you NOTE even his tepid overtures are NOT followed up or conjoined by the rest of the white cable heads on MSNBC.

So, I can't HATE on Eugene for that. Would I like to see him do more? You bet. But it ain't gonna happen. Eugene did not get where he is by being a trailblazer, so it is foolish to think that he will be the one carrying the torch now.

Well, the same would be true for AA's who have naturally 'straight' hair like Valerie Jarrett and Desiree Rogers. There are lots of Scandinavians who do not have natural curls and they get curly perms.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with emulating Blackness.

Why, not? Who do you think they are emulating…where do you think those curls originated? Not on the Asian continent, nor European continent…curls come straight out of Africa!

You are absolutely correct. Race is a sociologic construct. Not biologic, there is not enough genetic variance with the human species for their to be races. There is only one race the human race.

Race/racism and with all the stereotypes it denotes is what the viewer seeks to impose on you. i.e. in the eye of the beholder

This generational shift has a profound and significant impact on the AA community.The thing that was the clue for the majority of AA's was the “separatebutequal” indignities. A entire generation not experiencing that shifts the focus to poverty. Overcoming poverty however necessitates values and ambitons. Instead, in all too many cases, the AA community has chosen to develop a sub-culture that glorifies the ignorance of impoverishment and embraces drugs and crime, in too many instances.

How the NAACP shifts it's focus to address these problems is key. Obama has started the dialogue that too many folks want to ignore, and that is the return to values for the young folk born after the 80s.This is the generation that was suppose to reap the gains of affirmative action from their parents, but far too many have been incarcerated and fatherless, and those twin variables have 'ghettoized' the AA community.

Obama has no choice but to focus on the impact of those variables, if we as a community are going to move forward.

I connect with this cat. I'd take him everywhere I go if I could – if he wasn't such a fraidy-cat. Here's a look at Khaos

but, good entertainment is good entertainment, and his books translated well to the screen.

have to look for Never Back Down.

Yes, I loved Denzel in X, but I preferred his role as Ron Hunter, Executive Officer in CT.

He was strong, commanding, intelligent, and didn't have to go “nicca-full out.”