Black Hair is Political

Assembly in a Zimbabwean Primary school. Boys hair was inspected, it was supposed to be combed and short. Today we call it a brush cut but back then I just knew it was the rule. Girls had to have their hair short or plaited against their skulls. No afro’s, no fancy braids hanging down to their necks and definitely no dreadlocks. I hope you understand that by this I mean the black boys and girls. Different rules seemed to apply to the white children. What did I know of the politics of hair back then? Almost nothing. What do I know today? Just a little bit more.