Heart Healed

When will this end? When will our children be able to live without fear of being criminalized for simply existing?

[ID: Tweet by @/taniel. “When a 6-year old is dragged to court for picking a tulip. Read the North Carolina story: https://journalnow.com/north-carolina-sends-6-year-olds-to-court-why-some-say-its-time-for-change/article_e2a15a82-8383-11eb-91ee-43ce7c88753b.html” 

Screenshot of the article linked above that reads, “The 6-year-old dangled his legs above the floor as he sat at the table with his defense attorney, before a North Carolina judge. He was accused of picking a tulip from a yard at his bus stop, his attorney Julie Boyer said, and he was on trial in juvenile court for injury to real property. The boy’s attention span was too short to follow the proceedings, Boyer said, so she handed him crayons and a coloring book.”

Retweet by @/DearDean22. “He was arrested for picking a tulip while he waited for the bus. Someone called the police on a 6 year old Black boy because he picked a flower. The police arrested him. He had to go to court w/ a criminal defense attorney who gave him a coloring book to sit still. We are hated.” End ID.]

It’s easy when you don’t see those children as Human Beings.

This is what we’ve been fighting since this countries inception.

In many cultures, ethnic groups, and nations around the world, hair is considered a source of power and prestige. African people brought these traditions and beliefs to the Americas and passed them down through the generations.

In my mother’s family (Black Americans from rural South Carolina) the women don’t cut their hair off unless absolutely necessary (i.e damage or routine trimming). Long hair is considered a symbol of beauty and power; my mother often told me that our hair holds our strength and power. Though my mother’s family has been American born for several generations, it is fascinating to see the beliefs and traditions of our African ancestors passed down. We are emotionally and spiritually attached to our hair, cutting it only with the knowledge that we are starting completely clean and removing stagnant energy.

Couple this with the forced removal and covering of our hair from the times of slavery and onward, and you can see why so many Black women and men alike take such pride and care in their natural hair and love to adorn our heads with wigs, weaves, braids, twists, accessories, and sharp designs.