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𝒀𝒐, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏, 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝑺𝒍𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒔, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 5❜5❞, 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 5❜6❞ 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏❜ 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉, 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒕

Nnan - Young M.A

🙂

(@berniciaboateng)

some things that have happened since you stopped hearing about p/alestine after the “ceasefire” was declared

1,000+ palestinians were arrested in a mass-arrest campaign designed to, and i quote, “instill fear” - including children

al-aqsa mosque and worshippers were attacked and beaten

literal children, not even teens, children, were arrested and tried in a military court (this is not new, thousands of children have faced this terrorization over the years. Isr@el is the only country in the world that tries children in military courts. 500-700 children are prosecuted each year.)

a soldier deliberately ran over a child on a bike for having a pales/tinian flag on his bike. an adult man ran over a child with his car. on purpose. the child is 12. read that again.

sheikh jarrah was blockaded, illegally

whatsapp blocked the accounts of over 100 pal/estinian journalists

silwan, another pal/estinian neighborhood like sheikh j/arrah, is being violently ethnically cleansed to make way for more settlers

Isr@el has forced social media sites to censor the hashtags “free pal/estine” and “save sheikh ja/rrah” many posts and accounts have been deleted

25 pales/tinians have been murdered by the ID/F and settlers

in Jaffa, 300 arab families are under force expulsion orders to make way for more settlers. 300 families.

suicide rates in g/aza have risen to an all-time high due to PTSD and hopelessness

Pales/tinians in G/aza still do not have access to safe drinking water, electricity, medical care, and nutrition. families are still being displaced from their homes by settler colonialism. There is still an inability to mobilize freely, pursue a career, seek an education, or gain access to decent healthcare or mental health resources. The occupation, genocide, and ethnic cleansing continues whether you see on your feed or not.

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.

Hair is not just hair in African diaspora cultures, and this is why the appropriation and stigma surrounding our hair is so harmful.