For black women our sense of ourselves is not always consistent with the way other people see us. Jami Floyd More Quotes by Jami Floyd More Quotes From Jami Floyd When I have my Afro and walk down the street, there's no doubt that I'm black. With this [straightened] hair, if I talk about being black on air, viewers write and say, "You're black?!" I feel [straightening your hair] is giving up a sense of your identity. Let's be honest: It's an effort to look Anglo-Saxon. Jami Floyd giving-up hair writing My mother's white, and she didn't know how to do my hair, so I had something that I always call white-mama hair. Jami Floyd mother white hair My parents pressed upon me that "In this world, you are a black woman," so I was political about my hair and would not straighten it. Jami Floyd political parent hair There came a point when I wanted to do television, and I didn't think the Afro was going to play, so I made a very difficult choice - to straighten my hair. Jami Floyd difficult-choices play thinking I think television is one of the last real bastions of the white beauty standard, but still in many industries the workers can be replaced by someone who's willing to play the game or who looks like the person in charge. And this is a problem for all women, not just women of color. Jami Floyd color real thinking Often hair is the way we are differentiated in this culture. To me the decision to straighten your hair is deeply political. Jami Floyd political decision hair I've done lots of pieces on self-esteem and hair. There's a desire to conform, but if the encouragement to be yourself is there from loved ones, you'll find that later, that true self will come out. Jami Floyd being-yourself encouragement self-esteem
