Wednesday, May 21, 2008
To Be Or Not To Be... A Problem
Lately, I have been expressing my views more and more, and the result ,lol, hasn't been too pleasant. I've been accused of being a racist, the result of someone not liking what I said on the school newspaper blog and googling me to find out about my intent to participate in a reparation demonstration. I have lost a friend, her choice not mine. I have been called a republican, that one kind of got to me lol(yet their senseless explanation- that I don't really want change because I want to change this completely around???? made me feel better). With the reactions I have been getting and the words that pop up when you google my name, sometimes I wonder how it will affect me later. Will I lose the opportunity to work with a great employer. Coupled with my new "political statement" growing out of my head (Glamour Magazine told a room full of lawyers to leave the political hairstyles, aka the afros and dreads, outside of the courtroom. I can admit I was a little shaken, BUT ONLY FOR A SECOND! Yeah for two seconds I allowed my mind to slip back into colonization, then I woke back up. If a work place won't allow me to express myself completely, I DO NOT WANNA BE THERE! It will be their loss. Especially as a layer, I plan to put my heart into my cases, I will not sugar coat or dim down anything. No more suffocation. No more hiding the covers of my books (Yes I did so for bell hooks Black Masculinity) for fear of someone stereotyping me as a crazy radical or crazy feminist. I am radical and I am a feminist, still learning but still one. And if that makes people nervous then I am sorry for them.
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...Glamour Magazine told a room full of lawyers to leave the political hairstyles, aka the afros and dreads, outside of the courtroom. I can admit I was a little shaken, BUT ONLY FOR A SECOND! Yeah for two seconds I allowed my mind to slip back into colonization, then I woke back up. If a work place won't allow me to express myself completely, I DO NOT WANNA BE THERE! It will be their loss. Especially as a layer, I plan to put my heart into my cases, I will not sugar coat or dim down anything. No more suffocation....
ReplyDeleteSo let me see if I understand you. You are representing a client in the court room. Your employer, knowing full well that juries are made up of people with all sorts of prejudicial, racist, or biases opinions, requires you to dress and groom in a way least likely to offend the majority. You would refuse to do so because it somehow makes you think of being colonized and is suffocating to YOU? WTF?? I’m sorry but if I was your employer, I would not want you to be there any more than you would want you to be there. Last time I checked an attorney is an advocate for the client and supposed to do what is best for the client. It doesn’t have a thing to do with not allowing you to express yourself or stifling you radical or feminist views. It only has to do with what is best for your client. If you’re insistent about self expression to the detriment of that client, then you need to think about a different career! Just my opinion and I thank you for allowing me to state it.
I do appreciate your opinion. I must say, if a client needs me to change my hair to represent him or her than he or she better find another lawyer. I will not tip-toe around offending the majority when their offense is not warranted. If everyone did that, then things will never change. True I may have to work a little harder to get a racists jury to see past my natural hair, but I'm prepared. But I refuse to "fix" my hair with chemicals, to half way burn it off of my head, when other women are not required to do this.
ReplyDelete…I must say, if a client needs me to change my hair to represent him or her than he or she better find another lawyer. I will not tip-toe around offending the majority when their offense is not warranted. If everyone did that, then things will never change….
ReplyDeleteI agree with not tip-toeing around the majority when there offense is not warranted, except in the case of representing a client. I whole heartedly support your right to self expression and effecting change in most any other venue I can think of except the court room. I don’t think it’s so much the client needing you to present a certain appearance as it is the jury expecting a certain appearance. Right, wrong or otherwise, the client shouldn’t have the added risk of you having to “work harder” to overcome the biases of the court or jury regardless of how the client may personally feel about your appearance.
….But I refuse to "fix" my hair with chemicals, to half way burn it off of my head, when other women are not required to do this….
I agree 100%. While I admit that I know absolutely nothing about care of Female African-American hair I don‘t think your hair has to be relaxed or straightened to be acceptable in the court room. (I’m making this assumption based on your writing. If you are not an African-American Female then I apologize.)
I will agree to disagree on this topic. Thanks for your response.
Don't worry you're correct, lol.
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