Posted on 08/10/2010 11:39:12 AM PDT by HandsOffMyFreedom
A little known obstacle in black women's efforts to lead healthy and active lifestyles is the extravagant hair styles that they maintain. In an effort to spare these women from the so-called obesity 'epidemic', an army of black hair stylists will be mobilized across America to trim the fat.
The initiative to arm black hairstylists with the weapons they need to combat obesity among black women is being spearheaded by U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin and UnitedHealthCare. This week, the dynamic duo plans to recruit 60,000 hairstylists at the the Bronner Brothers International Hair Show in Atlanta, Ga.
"Recognizing that data show many African American women avoid certain fitness activities in order to maintain their hairstyle," a UnitedHealthCare press release states, "the initiative will feature the first-ever exercise-friendly hair competition, designed to remove hairstyle-related barriers to physical activity for women."
Promoters of the initiative cite unspecified studies that show black women sporting extravagant hair styles avoid certain types of physical fitness activities just so they can maintain what's on their heads while neglecting their waist lines. According to recent government statistics, nearly 4 out of 5 black women are overweight or obese, though hair styles are not cited as a contributing factor.
"As the Surgeon General of the United States, my number one goal is to improve the health of the nation and I'm proud to join with First Lady Michelle Obama to attack this problem head-on," said Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA and the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. "I know first hand the important role salons play in our African American culture. I look forward to being an honorary judge of the Hair Fitness competition and to sharing the lessons we learn from this throughout the nation." Read more
(Excerpt) Read more at nannystateliberationfront.net ...
Satire, right?
RIGHT?!
What are they going to do, give them all Opra hairstyles?
Totally legit news. No joke. Wish it was. Read the press release.
I’d assume this was a spoof, but nowadays...
Why not just shave the heads of anyone with a body mass index of 35 or more?
Absolutely unreal!!!!!!
When will people of color rise up and tell these nutcases that dark skin doesn’t make them stupid?
“. . . I’m proud to join with First Lady Michelle Obama to attack this problem head-on . . .”
This HAS TO BE SATIRE.
Uh... if someone is obese, cutting off hair isn’t really going to help much.
nope...not satire...just sad...
We live in Bizarro World.
This is from late 2009, Essence:
http://www1.essence.com/fashion_beauty/hair/articles/healthy_hair_guide_for_black_women
“Are you guilty of skipping exercise in the name of maintaining your hairstyle? We take a close look at how our obsession with our tresses can have a negative impact on our health.”
Ha!
On a related note, when lefty fascists start whipping themselves into a frenzy about fining or surcharging overweight people under PelosiCare, I bring up that Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans have a much higher obesity rate than Caucasions and Asians (statistically). First they deny it, then when you whip out the relevant studies from CDC they pipe down real fast about punitive measures against fat people.
Until they can figure out how to only fine fat white people, that is.
If changing my hairstyle would make me lose weight I’d leave work this very minute.
Isn’t this racists to target the Blacks? Don’t they have to have a different race as a token? I’ll volunteer, but I don’t look good in braids, or rows, and while my hair will frizz on any given humid day, it still can’t fro. No jerricurl either. What’s this little fiasco costing us?
By the way, I think that's Aunt Esther. Dicke Bertha (”Fat” or, alliteratively, “Big” Bertha) was the name given by German troops to a large railroad cannon manufactured by Krupp and used during the First World War to shell Paris. The eponymous Bertha Krupp was the matriarch of the Krupp family.
Ohhhhh I REALLY thought it was satire. It should be satire.
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