Braids for white daughter? I want to be culturally appropriate. Help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is crazy town.

OP has to be a troll, who thinks of this nonsense.

This entire thread is full of trolls.
Let's just be honest here...Black women have been straightening their hair since the days of Madam C.J. Walker (look it up). Is that White appropriation? No. White folks can do whatever they want to do their hair. It's not something to get riled up about. We've got plenty of other things to deal with regarding race. As Black people, we need to focus on the important issues...this isn't one of them. When we focus of stuff like this, the "real" stuff gets overlooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is crazy town.

OP has to be a troll, who thinks of this nonsense.

This entire thread is full of trolls.
Let's just be honest here...Black women have been straightening their hair since the days of Madam C.J. Walker (look it up). Is that White appropriation? No. White folks can do whatever they want to do their hair. It's not something to get riled up about. We've got plenty of other things to deal with regarding race. As Black people, we need to focus on the important issues...this isn't one of them. When we focus of stuff like this, the "real" stuff gets overlooked.

If this thread is a good indication, it's not black people that are focused on frivilous issues.

But this does illustrate why white people can have such a rough time being (and I hate this term) "good allies." There is so much ill informed and clueless condemnation in the white community about meaningless issues that make white people walk on eggshells. Fellow white people, worry less about the political correctness of your kindergartner's braids and worry more about why your workplace seems to promote white people faster or why you instinctively look at the Great Schools demographics chart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is crazy town.

OP has to be a troll, who thinks of this nonsense.

This entire thread is full of trolls.
Let's just be honest here...Black women have been straightening their hair since the days of Madam C.J. Walker (look it up). Is that White appropriation? No. White folks can do whatever they want to do their hair. It's not something to get riled up about. We've got plenty of other things to deal with regarding race. As Black people, we need to focus on the important issues...this isn't one of them. When we focus of stuff like this, the "real" stuff gets overlooked.

If this thread is a good indication, it's not black people that are focused on frivilous issues.

But this does illustrate why white people can have such a rough time being (and I hate this term) "good allies." There is so much ill informed and clueless condemnation in the white community about meaningless issues that make white people walk on eggshells. Fellow white people, worry less about the political correctness of your kindergartner's braids and worry more about why your workplace seems to promote white people faster or why you instinctively look at the Great Schools demographics chart.

Mmm, don't look instinctively at the Great Schools demographics chart, look instinctively at the grade so my kid doesn't go to a sh*thole school. Maybe less projection next time, but your points are otherwise well made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is crazy town.

OP has to be a troll, who thinks of this nonsense.

This entire thread is full of trolls.
Let's just be honest here...Black women have been straightening their hair since the days of Madam C.J. Walker (look it up). Is that White appropriation? No. White folks can do whatever they want to do their hair. It's not something to get riled up about. We've got plenty of other things to deal with regarding race. As Black people, we need to focus on the important issues...this isn't one of them. When we focus of stuff like this, the "real" stuff gets overlooked.

If this thread is a good indication, it's not black people that are focused on frivilous issues.

But this does illustrate why white people can have such a rough time being (and I hate this term) "good allies." There is so much ill informed and clueless condemnation in the white community about meaningless issues that make white people walk on eggshells. Fellow white people, worry less about the political correctness of your kindergartner's braids and worry more about why your workplace seems to promote white people faster or why you instinctively look at the Great Schools demographics chart.

Mmm, don't look instinctively at the Great Schools demographics chart, look instinctively at the grade so my kid doesn't go to a sh*thole school. Maybe less projection next time, but your points are otherwise well made.

The DCUM defintion of a "good school" is low farms. I send my kid to an integrated school. Her education hasn't suffered.

And it's well documented that the single measure that best predicts whether white families will consider a school is how many white kids are at a school. It isn't projection. I actively don't want my kids around segregationists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Black woman here and I think it’s fine. I can’t imagine any of my friends seeing a problem with it either. It is not cultural appropriation unless your DD claims she invented it and seems to make money off it, to the detriment of those who really did create it. Will it look good? Who knows, but she’s five, who cares.

This. I don't think white women actually understand the concept of cultural appropriation. Wearing your hair in braids is not cultural appropriation. Putting a picture of a Hindu god on flip flops and a handbag, that is cultural appropriation.

I lived in India for many years and Indians appropriate everything. If you look at Indian fashion, art, design it is a massive, festive mish-mash. This appropriation policing just needs to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a complete idiot though I feel like one now. I know better than to let my kid have braids to match her friend. Could I do french braids instead and put beads in her hair that way? I'm so lost on this. I am an immigrant, sorry for not understanding. I am trying.

French braids would be cute. Get them friendship bracelets or something that can match.

Tell your daughter "Cornrows are for black girls. White girls wear French braids. Girls of all colors can wear friendship bracelets."

Np. So are u saying Black girls can't wear French braids? That's crazy!

They also can't straighten their hair ever, according to this logic. Welcome to wokedom. It's so freeing!

Wait, you guys are joking, right? Cornrows and french braids are the same thing, aside from the hair texture they imply, aren't they?

Not the same thing unless you are french braiding a hundred tiny braids into your straight white hair?

Because I was even more confused after reading your reply (that is probably crystal clear to all but me), I went to google, and found this 2015 piece in Fashion Magazine, 8 braids you can do without being culturally offensive. I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA that some braids were culturally insensitive in 2015, and not just on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Sounds like you met your first black person in college or something with this question. Every white kid I know, myself included, has the memory of up wanting cool braids with beads, afro puffs, any cute hairstyle they saw on their friends. It doesn't kill that white kid to learn that not everything is for you.

The bolded is actually really important. There's a short list of things that white kids just shouldn't access, but learning that early sets the stage for later, harder, discussions.

What is the “short list”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is crazy town.

OP has to be a troll, who thinks of this nonsense.

This entire thread is full of trolls.
Let's just be honest here...Black women have been straightening their hair since the days of Madam C.J. Walker (look it up). Is that White appropriation? No. White folks can do whatever they want to do their hair. It's not something to get riled up about. We've got plenty of other things to deal with regarding race. As Black people, we need to focus on the important issues...this isn't one of them. When we focus of stuff like this, the "real" stuff gets overlooked.

If this thread is a good indication, it's not black people that are focused on frivilous issues.

But this does illustrate why white people can have such a rough time being (and I hate this term) "good allies." There is so much ill informed and clueless condemnation in the white community about meaningless issues that make white people walk on eggshells. Fellow white people, worry less about the political correctness of your kindergartner's braids and worry more about why your workplace seems to promote white people faster or why you instinctively look at the Great Schools demographics chart.

ROFLMAO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is white. Blond haired blue eyed pale white. Her best friend is African American. Best friend wears her hair in tiny braids and sometimes has colorful beads in her hair. My kid wants braids. And beads. The girls are 5 years old. They want to match because they are best friends since they remember. What can I do that is appropriate and will be a good fit? My kid is too young to understand culturally appropriate choices. Help?

Are you crazy? I am white and wore braids all through 5th grade as did most of the girls I knew.

[Anonymous]

Every year when we travelled to various Caribbean Islands, my white rd got those braids. A lot of people made their livings doing the braids and making bracelets.