From Huey P. Newton to Angela Davis and Dante de Blasio their natural hair has played a part in shaping their identity and have helped them declare to the world that they are embracing their unapologetic blackness. They proudly sported their natural kinks and curls to the world in a statement that said, "this is me and I will not be ashamed." Their hair was and is powerful to this day in a powerful political and self-declaration that their blackness in all of its natural wonder is amazing.
Last June I decided to begin growing out my natural hair and letting the curls and kinks begin to sprout and flourish rather Caesar haircut that I had been getting from the time that I first sat in a barber's chair.
This was a hard decision for me, at first, like many other black Americans there was a fear that I would not be representing myself well but I began to realize that what I was experiencing was the internalized white standards of beauty and the respectability politics that had been set not only for me but for generations before me.
After realizing this is where my fear came from, I decided to conquer it, I decided to be unapologetic and grasp the full experience of the identity that I love. While my hair was growing I began to grow and feel more comfortable in my authentic blackness more unapologetic about the way I expressed my blackness.
Growing out my hair has been one of the best decisions I've made and I'm using it to show the world that I am unapologetic about my culture and as a silent protest to declare that we have a place in this society.
