When I was going through airport security today in San Francisco on my way to Los Angeles, the security guard made me stop. She patted my hair all around my neck and then let me go. I had read an article a few weeks ago (probably in the New York Times), written by an African-American woman complaining of the hair pat-down. The author said that though she knew many woman of color who had experienced it, she knew of no white women, no matter how curly their hair. When it happened, I thought, “well, I’m a white woman who has been given the hair pat-down.”

When my blonde friend, whose hair is thick and curly, met me at the gate, I asked if they had patted her hair. It was not a surprise the answer was “no.”. My wild and frizzy, dark, ethnically jewish hair is still scarier to this society than pretty blonde, northern european tresses.

Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.