Oh Uh-Uh: White "Locticians"

Ann-Marie Christell from Seienstyle

Imagine it, I am literally minding my own business, scrolling on Facebook when a close friend of mine messages me with a link. This link. This link that leads to Ann-Marie Christell from Seienstyle's event page advertizing a free training on how to run a successful loctician business. It is filled with white women. White women twisting their loose long blond or brunette hair. Smiling for the camera or posed in a candid.

And it made my blood boil.

The literal audacity this culture has for stealing from Black culture is not only immeasurable, but it is also exhausting. Ann-Marie is pedaling her 6 step class as a chance to "Learn the 6 proven steps to start a successful loctician business, so that you can move away from all negativity and invite abundance into your life!"

I think I rolled my eyes so hard, I could go blind.

Seeing a whitewashed advertisement for what Black folks have been doing forever is as American as slavery and Jim Crow. It is a hearty spit in the face of People of Color who to this day face discrimination on their hair textures, whether it keeps us from getting jobs or being promoted or its completely fetishized and we are pet and prodded at our workplaces or even walking down the street.

Black people have been wearing locs since time immemorial. Locs, like braids, cornrows, twists, and Bantu knots are inherently part of our culture. Ancient Egyptian Pharoahs were found wearing locked hair in their tombs as well as were painted wearing locs in their elaborate wall carvings and colorful hieroglyphics. The Maasai of Kenya are famous for their beautiful red locs.

Locs were introduced byBob Marley into mainstream culture in the ‘70s and were further popularizing the look in the ‘80s by Whoopi Goldberg. Lauryn Hill and Lenny Kravitz proudly rocked locs in the ‘90s, meanwhile, literary queens Toni Morrison and Alice Walker have worn them for decades. Locs have been further popularized by Ava Duvernay, Ledisi, both Willow and Jaden Smith, Chloe x Halle, and The Weeknd.

But that part of our culture was not always fetishized like it is now. On Sept. 15 of 2016, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it’s not discriminatory to ban locs in the workplace. The exact same day, Marc Jacobs had his mostly white models walked the runway wearing pastel-colored locs during New York Fashion Week. The message is loud and clear: Dreadlocks are not welcome unless the person wearing them is white. Mainstream media perceives is a great place to observe this and the most recent example is when Giuliana Rancic equated Zendaya’s locs with smelling like patchouli, weed, and oil, but hailed Kylie Jenner’s locs as “edgy.”

Do you realize it literally JUST this year, 2019, became illegal for folks to discriminate against Natural hairstyles? The CROWN Act passed THIS YEAR, folks, and is only adopted in California and New York. In fact, the Supreme Court, won't even hear cases of loc discrimination, as seen in Chastity Jones' case that began in 2013 when Jones, who is black, was offered a job with Catastrophe Management Solutions, an Alabama-based company in 2010, but a white human resources manager told her to cut her locs because, allegedly, the manager said, locs "tend to get messy," which violates company policy that hairstyles "should reflect a business/professional image," and "no excessive hairstyles" were acceptable. Clear discrimination, but the Supreme Court apparently isn't too concerned with that.

Let's also not forget that earlier this very year, a 16-year-old Andrew Johnson, during his wrestling match, was forced by the lead referee, to cut his locs or forfeit the match. Rather than anyone advocating for Andrew, he was literally hacked at by the coach, winning the match, but losing a piece of himself in the process. That head ref later lost his job, but that still doesn't absolve the damage done to this kid who was literally sheered for a match win.

Seienstyle

Let's also not forget that this very year, a 17-year-old Kerion Washington was turned down for a summer job at Six Flags because of his locs, referred to as an "extreme hairstyle". Kerion was actually picked up by a model agency scout later on and now enjoys a successful modeling career, but again, the initial rejection due to his locs has to be cited.

For every cute white girl who wants to rebel against her parents or white boy in his grungy or skater phase with dreads or every white woman who wants to call herself a loctician, there are black people who experience discrimination due to their locs. And that is how cultural appropriation works. It literally benefits the oppressor and steals from the already oppressed.

This is why white people, like Ann-Marie Christell from Seienstyle, hosting their loctician training are such a spit in the face to people of color. For us, locs are a symbol of our heritage, our culture, our history, more than just aesthetics. People like Ann-Marie would do well to learn more about the culture before you steal from it for profit.