Yes, my fair skinned friend, you can touch my hair...

So this post was inspired by my BEST friend. We met in and grew together during the latter half of my 8 years in Spokane, WA. No, eastern Washington is not known for its diversity. In fact, my alma mater, Gonzaga probably contained half of Spokane's minority population and the schools diversity ratio was 1%...Newho, She has been a witness to the many requests to touch my hair and/or skin. She didn't believe me how calm I was when people would approach me and ask to caress my locs or rub down my skin. My answer was always "sure." Now, I am not  including predators or people who may have been a detriment to my health if they had touched me... We were always out at a nice bar or club. I was usually the only black girl there, yes I was the Chuck-e-Cheese coin.
The reason I sad yes to their odd request is because it mainly stems out of curiosity and ignorance. While, I have little tolerance for ignorance, I want to be the change I want to see. Curiosity, is a good sign! It means that they want to seek knowledge and get out of their ignorance! I let people touch me or my hair in hopes that maybe it will help educate them. It never bothered me that people were ignorant and believed stereotypes as absolutes because they had no other information to go on; it is more the hatred that is required for racism that bothers me. Now, we can get into ignorance as a choice but I talking about blatant white hoods type choice here! It also bothers me when people have questions but don't ask them. How do you learn if you don't ask? But with the responses I have seen others give, I can see why they are hesitant. Just be encouraged! You can always ask me! And while I don't and can't speak for all black people you can learn more about ANGELA whose skin happens to be brown...

Stay Fluid,

LQD