Katherine Monk, Vancouver Sun, January 22, 2009
The television behind the bar is showing live coverage of Barack Obama’s inauguration, but even as America turns a historical page, Chris Rock has a hard time believing black is the new black.
“I think Indian is the new black,” he says, sitting back on a comfy sofa in a makeshift lounge at the Sundance Film Festival.
The comment makes no sense if you haven’t seen Good Hair, Rock’s new documentary about the tangled issue of tresses, race and the dominant culture’s concept of beauty.
Spurred by a single question raised by his young daughter—“Daddy, why don’t I have good hair?”—Rock goes to the very roots of identity in the film, teasing out a knot of truths about the $9-billion hair product industry aimed specifically at African-Americans.
By far the largest segment of it is hair weaves. People can buy human hair and have it woven into their own to achieve a variety of styles.
But as Rock discovered over the course of his hairy two-year journey, the only hair African-Americans want woven into their own is straight hair. That’s where the Indian reference comes in: More than half of the hair weaves industry is fed by shorn locks from South Asia.
“You know, we live in a world where nobody likes what they look like,” says Rock. “You open a magazine and you’re too fat. People wear contacts, get Botox, nose jobs.
“And every black woman has [hair] relaxer.”
When I challenge him on the generalization, he doesn’t budge.
Then again, digging a hole which he is then forced to crawl out of is part of his comic process.
“I like making people feel uncomfortable, and that’s why I talk about things that are tough to talk about. Even in my standup, I never talk about things that are obviously funny.
“I like to go out there and take on a topic that’s like, ‘Why are you talking about that?’ and then dig myself out of the hole.”
The hole, in Good Hair, is a sink-clogging clump of U.S. racial history. According to Rock’s research, young women believe they won’t be able to get a good job if they don’t apply toxic straightening agents that burn the scalp or forfeit a month’s rent to invest in weaves worth thousands—yes, thousands—of dollars.
“These hair product companies are like Ford and GM. Actually, they’re more like Apple or Microsoft because they’re making a profit,” he says.
“It’s weird, too, because I went to a couple of Obama functions this year and when you get to that expensive part of the party [the VIP area], there would always be a few black couples in there you’d talk to … and they were always in the hair business.”
At one time, African-Americans owned and operated the companies making products that relax nappy hair. Yet once the corporate world found out how much money it could make by exploiting people’s insecurities, the largely European-owned beauty industry started acquiring one black-owned business after another.
“It’s the biggest black business,” says Rock. “It’s bigger than music. It’s the biggest black industry there is.”
In the film, this issue is addressed by the likes of Rev. Al Sharpton, as well as hair industry insiders who mourn the fact that African-Americans have surrendered the power to define their own esthetic.
Original article
(Posted on January 22, 2009)
Comments
If you could find an isolated black tribe that never had contact with whites and if you could bring them an average white girl, with light skin, blue eyes, and blond hair, many of them would see her as idealized beauty.
There are, without question, homely and downright ugly white people. While I do not claim that those of African origins are outright unattractive on a whole, we always come back to averages and percentages. Go to any white majority high school and black majority high school and divide each into groups of attractive, mildly attractive, and unattractive. I have no doubt that you would find a higher majority of attractive whites than attractive blacks.
If Mr. Rock is concerned about the damage done to blacks in a dominant white culture, he should be fighting tooth and nail to separate his people from a standard of beauty to which black can not hope to compete. I’m sorry to break the news to Mr. Rock but kinky, nappy black hair is intuitively not attractive and that’s not the fault of racism, dominant white culture, or idealized white western standards of beauty. Even in the black community, mixed race blacks are represented as their standard of beauty.
Here is a short list of African people. See what you think:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samburu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_people
“Chris Rock Doc Tackles Race and Perceptions of Beauty.”
Who is Chris Rock, and why does anything he says merit a news story?
“Who is Chris Rock, and why does anything he says merit a news story?”
He’s a black guy who reminds everyone of whitey’s place.
You don’t know who Chris Rock is? Why, he’s a comedian who makes millions for saying things that would get white comedians thrown into the unemployment line or thought-crimes gulag.
“Who is Chris Rock, and why does anything he says merit a news story?”
He’s the guy he stated: “A Book is like Krytonite to a *****!”
@ice
Chris Rock is a black comedian who would actually be funnier if he didn’t have a potty mouth. One act I remember is “black people vs. n***as.” They say there’s comedy in truth.
Another thing he did was a kind of parody—an instructional video called “How to Not Get Your @$$ Kicked By the Police.” You can find this on YouTube—but be warned, language!
Chris ‘Rock another black doper…so who cares what he thinks or does, he’s an idiot!
Just about every attractive black female has one white parent. Just about every capable black male has one white parent. Coincidence?
Whites are simply a more evolved people, in every way. Human life began in Africa, and hasn’t progressed much since.
When I challenge him on the generalization, he doesn’t budge.
See, there’s the problem. Generalizations - bad. Nonsense. Generalizations are a universal, normal, indispensable technique for making sense of sensory data. That’s how, for example, we can recognise a dog as a dog, even if it is a breed we have never seen before. Furthermore, we expect certain kinds of behaviour from it, based on our previous experience with other dogs.
Some generalizations are more valid than others, but in general (!) any generalization that has any validity is more valuable than no generalization at all. You make better decisions with them than without them. That is a definition of validity.
So I have no problem with my prejudices. Call me a racist; I wear the badge with pride. I avoid the company of black people. Probably, in so doing, I miss getting to know some really fine people, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take for the sake of the many problems I avoid.
Generalizations. Stereotypes. Prejudices. Good friends and allies.
One of my favourites: White is beautiful. Black is not.
“Chris Rock Doc Tackles Race and Perceptions of Beauty.”
“Who is Chris Rock, and why does anything he says merit a news story?”
Posted by ice at 6:43 PM on January 22
He’s a Black comedian and the media is dredging up every Black they can add to the Black parade the media is currently engaged in like never before.
Actually, I recall in the ’70s Black Pride dictated that beautiful Black hair was expressed in a style called “The Afro.” So for about seven years most Blacks went about with giant heads - mostly of hair. It was supposed to be beautiful but I guess the notion didn’t take.
Next industry, chasing down Asians in small poor countries to harvest their silky Black hair for the enhancement of “Black Beauty.”
Wow, sbuffalonative. Original Africans are far from attractive. The Somalis are a bit better because they have Arab ancestry from their paternal side. African Americans have had their looks improved a lot by the infusion of European and Native American genes.
Maybe the good man should talk to the First Lady and First Daughters about their prejudiced view about the straightened hair. No-one of them wears her hair natural.
Well, most of the attractive black females would even go for a white man.
http://images.teamsugar.com/files/users/0/3987/17_2007/DavidBowi_Dimit_13732445_600.jpg
Who is Chris Rock, and why does anything he says merit a news story?
Posted by ice at 6:43 PM on January 22
Valid question. Mr. Rock is a comedian. How does that make him an expert on beauty?
Why is that a problem?
At one time, African-Americans owned and operated the companies making products that relax nappy hair. Yet once the corporate world found out how much money it could make by exploiting people’s insecurities, the largely European-owned beauty industry started acquiring one black-owned business after another.
“I like making people feel uncomfortable, and that’s why I talk about things that are tough to talk about. Even in my standup, I never talk about things that are obviously funny.
This time he just might not be able to dig himself out. There is no topic more touchy or sensitive to black women than the subject of hair. Even though, by now it is common knowledge to everyone that most black women rely on weaves these days. Many will still fiercely deny it, and use the now famous mantra that black hair naturally comes in all textures from stick straight to kinky. An interesting utterance considering I don’t think I ever even met or saw a mulatto with truly naturally straight hair.
Lay off Chris Rock. He’s the closest thing to a pop-culture race realist there is in this world.
Rock has a bit about how “Everything white people hate about black people, black people REALLY hate about black people.”
. I’m sorry to break the news to Mr. Rock but kinky, nappy black hair is intuitively not attractive and that’s not the fault of racism, dominant white culture, or idealized white western standards of beauty.
Like with most issues, blacks have a tendency to blame whites for the fact that so many black women desire straighter more manageable hair. Either by supposedly imposing Eurocentric beauty standards upon them, or by condemning them for their natural hair. This is bogus of course, as one poster pointed out in the 70’s nearly every black man and woman in America were wearing giant afro’s that they claimed were beautiful and reflection of black pride. Whites never asked them to change, they did this on their own. In those days, nobody ever heard of a weave. Now that it is possible to wear the long flowing hair of another race upon their heads, black women are taking full advantage of it. It is a look they desire, and wish nature had bestowed them with pure and simple.
This comment isn’t about hair, but a few years back my husband and I were at a comedy concert and Chris Rock was playing, with a few other comedians. The audience was predominantly white. Chris pointed at my husband and asked him if he would trade places with him. My husband was surprised and just smiled and didn’t answer. And Chris’ punchline to the bit was: “See, folks, he won’t trade places with me, and I’m young and rich. That’s how great it is to be white!” Ha ha, much laughter and applause. My husband turned to me and said, “He’s damned right”.
“See, folks, he won’t trade places with me, and I’m young and rich. That’s how great it is to be white!”
Has Chris Rock ever voiced a desire to be white? If not, in what way is he any different from the white man in this anecdote? That whites don’t want to be black is supposed to be evidence of “privilege,” yet blacks don’t seem to show any more desire to be white than vice versa. Mere black hypocrisy.
Agreed with Anon 2:12…LAY OFF! He’s proudly black, sure, and holds a lot of the resentments of whites, but he says a lot of truth about the causes of black issues.
“A n***a would put rims on a toaster if you let him!! They spinnin’ Dogg, the spinnin’! They spinnin’ Dogg, they spinnin’! THEY SPINNIN’ DOG THEY SPINNIN’!!”
He’s undeniably a great comedian.
Blacks are the least physically attractive of all races, particularly black women. In their heart of hearts, THEY KNOW THIS. I think this is part of the reason they have so much hatred for other, especially White, races.
“Lay off Chris Rock. He’s the closest thing to a pop-culture race realist there is in this world.”
I second that. Sure he’s a potty-mouth — most comics are these days — but he’s also incredibly insightful on race issues. Black comics can really cut into their own people sometimes; the audience roars with laughter over comments that would get any white guy fired from his job or worked over in the parking lot. Crazy world.
Sometimes I wish I lived in decades past when obscene language was rare. I get so sick of hearing it in movies and seeing it in books and magazines. Disgusting language is an aggressive way to speak which some people like because it temporarily makes them feel powerful, like sharpening a knife in front of someone. A person who cannot speak without cursing generally has deep-seated antisocial and hostility issues.
Mr. Rock seems to have a lot of anger towards whites and enjoys shocking them. He is also annoyed with ghetto blacks, but the brunt of his annoyance I would say is towards whites.
He acts as though he understands white people and is on their side but at the same time he isn’t. He is always bringing up subjects like slavery or lynching or separate drinking fountains, etc. which causes the white audience members to feel collective guilt and laugh nervously. His two main themes seem to be: (1) blacks are and still have a right to be angry at white Americans; and (2) black misbehavior may be a problem but there is nothing you can really do about it.
Why is it the loony left gets away with consistently talking out of both sides of their mouths? If we’re to accept the concept of…”the dominant culture’s concept of beauty….” explaining individuals motivations, how does one explain so many homosexuals rejecting the same?
P.S. Nothing quite so unabashedly honest in regards to perceived attractiveness than to browse threw a collection of internet porn and note the racial makeup of 99.9% of it. Desire is desire and can’t be liberalized away.
This is all sounding like the “doll studies” that were so prominent in the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Seems that black children preferred white dolls so what was needed was forced integration of public schools to give the blacks a better self image (?). I got a little lost in the logic here! As I recall, the Afro look lasted a couple of years. I recall a job I had in the early mid-70s and I noticed that black women were back to trying to have hair like white women.
