Deadlocks on White People

Title: Dreadlocks on White People

Topic: Cultural Change

Relation: Ever since the 1970’s, when dreadlocks became mainstream more and more people of different races have been sporting them. Not just limited to the heads of people of African descent, it has become popular for white people to sport them. This represents a cultural change or as Wikipedia nicely put it, transformation of culture. Wikipedia defines cultural change as “the dynamic process whereby the living cultures of the world are changing and adapting to external or internal forces.”

Source: Conversation I overheard at a party and a video on YouTube about how African Americans feel about white people wearing dreadlocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlQhZmbcskE&noredirect=1

Description: I am from Portland so I see both white and African American people with dreadlocks and have never thought of it. I never knew that some African Americans feel like dreadlocks are “theirs” and that seeing white people with them is disrespectful or that the person is trying to be black. This came to my attention Friday night while I was at a party. One African American gal started attacking a guy with blond hair asking him why he had dreadlocks, was he trying to black, that he was trying to steal the dreadlocks from the African Americans which was part of their culture and she just kept going on.  I was shocked at how angry the gal was. The guy was able to diffuse the situation quickly by explaining in a humorous way why he had dreadlocks that his hair is naturally curly and it is easier to handle when it’s in dreadlocks.

            Later in the night, I found him and started talking to him about what had happened. He said that he actually gets that a lot, people come up to him and accuse him of trying to be black and wanting to know why he has dreadlocks. 

            For this assignment I decided to go online and typed in the Google Search bar, “Do black people get mad when white people have dreadlocks?” The results were astounding! I never knew that people felt so strongly about this subject.

            I found a great YouTube video where the African American lady explains why when she was younger she would give “doo doo eyes” (glare) at white people with dreadlocks because she felt that they looked stupid and that they were trying to be like “us.” She admits that she was a racist back then and was ignorant. Now she works as a life coach and has changed her perspective and she loves the white people with dreads on YouTube. She loves the enthusiasm of them with their dreadlocks that they view dreads as spunky and fun. She believes that everyone should stop taking hair so seriously and just relax and have fun with it.

Final Commentary: I told the dreadlocks guy the night of the party that I viewed dreadlocks as cultures coming together and mixing. I don’t view it as a bad thing and hope that more people will see that. I looked up the history of dreadlocks and they have been worn all over the Old World for ages. So it’s not one culture’s place to say that dreads are only theirs to have.