Hampton Hair Mess

In recent days there has been an uproar over a policy put in place in 2001 banning locks, corn rows, and afro's at Hampton Universities business school. The school Dean Sid Credle posed this question, "Since when does corn rows or dread locks have anything to do with black history? Charles Drew, Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali never had them." He feels that if students want to succeed in business then they should look the part. I think that he has a point. A lot of today's youth feel that they shouldn't have to sacrifice anything to have everything. But the fact is, in the business world you won't find a lot of locks or braids. So unless the aspiration is to be the president of "Keepin It Real Records", or a to become a hair model for "Soul Glow", a little conformity may go a long way.
I know that we should all have the right to express ourselves and in the black community hair has always been a major way of doing so but, we must look at the big picture. The powers that be are largely a conservative group regardless of their political affiliations, most do not understand cultural expression. But what they do understand is the fact that you have the same hair style as the guy they saw being arrested on the news last night. Yes, it's definitely wrong, because we should be judged based on the content of our character like Dr. King said. But, that is not the world that we live in. Until it is, we all have to play the game. Then once we've become major players we can do whatever we want with our hair. The bottom line is, if your aspirations and dreams go past the corner in your neighborhood you will definitely have to make some changes.

PR