Posted by Native Carolinian (other posts) on January 28, 2017 at 18:17:39 Previous Next
In Reply to: Re: Perfect Native Mane! posted by MG on January 27, 2017 at 03:12:38:
I checked out the web-site. I find it very disturbing on the whole. I am Native American. I speak Lenape as my first language as well as Cherokee, and English as my 3rd.
Let me explain some things about Native Americans and our hair. There is no such thing as "Native Hair". Each culture has its own hair styles. People within these cultures some times have different hair styles depending on their social standing. Many times it has to do with their religion how they have their hair. It may also have to do with their spirituality how they have their hair.
As regards that web-site on the whole, I find it very disturbing. Native women have been objectified for 500 years now. That site objectifies Native men to a large extent. That is not progress. The site actually makes me sick to my stomach. I find it very disrespectful that the person did not take the time to put names to the pictures as well as to which Nations these men belong. That is wrong. It is exploitation. Please take time to investigate Native American cultures and find out about how and why we look like we do and do what we do. We come from over 500 different Nations and do not have a monolithic culture. Our cultures are living and evolving just like yours is. Some Native Americans are very traditional, and some are not. Many Native Americans live in cities today due to the latest attempts by the U.S. Federal Government to break up out cultures and Nations. Urban Natives may not have traditional hair styles because we have to blend into the majority population and get jobs and pay the bills like everyone else.
Discrimination on the job is still rampant against Native Americans. I have experienced it in 4 different employment situations and in all 4 of them they tried to get rid of me because I was Native and spoke my languages to other Native employees. In one situation, I was also growing out my hair into a traditional style. They didn't like that either. The Nations I come from have very different traditional hair styles to each other in some cases. Hair style communicates one thing in one of them and a totally different thing an another of them. So, please lets not use labels like "Native Hair" when there are so many styles amongst Native cultures.