Why a Hairstyle Made Headlines (4 Bag Barf Alert)

The Washingtpn Post and Drudge ^ | 7 April 06 | Robin Givhan

[SkyPilot]

When Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) summoned the media to Howard University last week to tell her side of the story in an altercation with a Capitol Police officer, she assumed the traditional news conference position behind a podium and a bank of microphones.

She stood there wearing a coral-colored jacket and dangling earrings and raising the serious issue of racial injustice. But it was impossible not to stare at her hair. As your plainspoken mother might say, it appeared to be standing all over her head.

[cyborg]

police officer did not recognize McKinney because she had swapped her signature braids for a loose -- and much more flattering -- style.

** That flattering thing MUST be a misprint. It looks HORRIBLE.

[SkyPilot]

This article is so ridiculous and childish. It reinforces why liberals are so mentally and morally stunted.

Everyone has a bad hair day, whether it is straight hair that goes limp, curls that turn frizzy or kinky hair that becomes unruly. So it would be reasonable to think that McKinney's hairdo should not have elicited anything more than a shrug or a knowing and sympathetic whisper among black women, "Girrrl, did you see her head?" Instead, talk turned ugly on blogs about her news-conference hair. It became the impetus for all sorts of racially driven insults about her locks and their natural texture. A black woman's hair is an easy, timeworn source of racist mockery. It has become an exhausting cliche of self-loathing whether it is kinky, hot-combed, braided, locked or chemically relaxed. (Indeed, plenty of black folks see all kinds of dire race-traitor undertones in Condoleezza Rice's smooth, controlled cap of hair.) A black woman's hair is a bottomless source of inspiration for essays, books and documentaries.

[ovrtaxt]

Okay, I'll do it. Here.

[saganite]

(Indeed, plenty of black folks see all kinds of dire race-traitor undertones in Condoleezza Rice's smooth, controlled cap of hair.)

Funny, I see an intelligent gifted and articulate woman.

[SkyPilot]

This is the Washington Post "journalist" who wrote this:

Robin Givhan

_{Robin Givhan is originally from Michigan. She majored in English at Princeton University and has a masters degree in journalism from the University of Michigan. Robin has been on the staff of the Detroit Free Press, San Francisco Chronicle and Vogue magazine. She's been at The Washington Post since 1995 and in addition to covering the fashion industry, also helped to cover the 2000 presidential election, the Atlanta Olympic Games and, of course, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Robin contributed to a couple of books and freelanced for Essence, The International Herald Tribune and Town and Country, among others. She lives in New York and has a dog.}

It looks to me like Robin's hair indictates she is a "traitor" to black women. :^>

[Plymouth Sentinel]

I read the article, but I don't know why.

For my life I cannot make sense of it.

[bert]

She wanted to show off her black roots


Over due for a dye job

[tomahawk]

This is what you get nowadays with a bachelors from Princeton and masters from Michigan, nothing.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

** That flattering thing MUST be a misprint. It looks HORRIBLE.

Yep she was kind of cute in her braids but that thing she had on her head was a mess.

[Erik Latranyi]

This is how the left defends one of their own!

Please ignore the fact that Rep McKinney assaulted a law enforcement officer. Please concentrate on the unfair treatment of her coif.

PS: George Bush is a fratboy that looks like a monkey.

[CDHart]

The author's hair is pretty controlled, too, IMO.

Carolyn

[cyborg]

Oh well... only Robin can sport the Fabulaxer look and get away with it.

[Ludicrous]

"police officer did not recognize McKinney because she had swapped her signature braids for a loose -- and much more flattering -- style"

That's just a blatant lie. More accurately: the police officer did not recognize McKinney because she failed to wear the ID pin which was issued to her for that very purpose.

[cyborg]

She looks like a bag lady. IMHO, John and Jen were wrong to call her a crack whore because first what man would sleep with her and second she's too fat to be a crackhead. That's an insult to crackheads everywhere. Buckwheat was a nice boy so that's an insult to him too! :D

[ovrtaxt]

Yeah, I'm down with Buckwheat too. I owe him an apology I guess.

[poobear]

Hairstyle, smairstyle. You still can't polish a turd.

[manwiththehands]

I don't think I've ever seen a black woman who looked like she didn't know what she was doing with her hair. And it never even crossed my mind until Cynthia McKinney shows up looking like Buckwheat.

Mz. McKinney did this on purpose, to exploit the race card even further. She made herself look like a stereotype so we would treat her like one.

[ovrtaxt]

DING! Best comment of the day, and it's only 7:45!!

[Caipirabob]

Yep she was kind of cute in her braids

Yes, she was quite a striking woman at that.