After years of planning, the National Museum of African American History and Culture will open its doors on September 24. The Smithsonian museums, on the Mall in D.C., hold countless American treasures: Dorothy’s ruby slippers at the Museum of American History; the Spirit of St. Louis flying high at the Air and Space Museum. I’m sure the new museum will feature some of the civil rights and black power movements’ most iconic images: maybe a photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, fists in the air, at the 1968 Olympics; maybe audio from Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech; maybe, someday, Michelle Obama’s first inaugural gown.
What it won’t include, I guarantee, are images of Colin Kaepernick’s hair.
For those of you who don’t know, Kaepernick is a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. In the past couple of seasons, he’s fallen from football grace, but, recently, has re-risen to stardom for refusing to stand up when the National Anthem plays before 49ers’ preseason football games.
And the crowd went wild.
Kaepernick has explained that he’s protesting America’s injustice, namely police brutality against African Americans. The story’s getting the same amount of coverage on CNN as it is on ESPN.
After days of people — many of them African-American athletes — blasting the biracial Kaepernick for his actions because he’s “not black,” Kaepernick appeared at last Thursday night’s game with an afro.
And the crowd lost its damn mind.
And Charles Barkley needs to find something better to do.
Actual Instagram comment on a photo of Kaepernick’s hair: Aww shit! That nigga just got REAL!
With the afro, Kaepernick was verified black, his actions justified.
Let’s relax, black people, and take a seat for a sec.
I’ve got no problem with Kaepernick riding the pine while the bombs burst in air and give proof to the night. He can sit as long as the flag’s still there. I don’t care. Actually, I’m fairly unimpressed.
Let’s just think about history for a minute.
History lesson number one: An afro doesn’t make you black. See Rhea Perlman.
Lesson number two: Way back when, two Thursdays ago, Kaepernick’s hair was the same real hair that it is now. Here’s how it works: Instead of letting his hair air-dry, he, or someone else, blew it dry and combed it out with a pick. Nothing just got real.
Lesson number three: While I applaud the football player for sitting down for what he believes in, Kaepernick is not a hero. I’m not quite ready to call him an activist, either. His new ’do does not make him Angela Davis. Even if it spontaneously goes gray before the next game, he’s not the new Frederick Douglass.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” has four verses, the final verse demanding, Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! If only hair had that much power. Cher would rule. Bob Ross, from PBS’s The Joy of Painting, with his trees and babbling brooks, would have saved this land decades ago.
Editor’s Note: This marks (sob!) Erica Dawson’s final Dark & Sinful column. She’ll still contribute to CL from time time — she promises to come back anytime we need her take on anything from Becky with the good hair to Donald with the bad hair. But given her increasing responsibilities at the University of Tampa (where she’s an associate professor of English and heads the MFA in Creative Writing program), plus the time crunch that comes with being an award-winning, in-demand poet (she’ll be reading at the Dali this Thursday evening), she can’t commit to this bi-weekly column, which she’s been writing for CL since the spring of 2013. We understand, but we’re bummed — and know we’ll be hearing lots more from her in the future, both in the pages of CL and beyond. Thanks, Erica! Just like a certain quarterback’s hair, it’s been real.
