This archive report was first published on 24 November 2019.
On November 24, 2019, Makau Mutua, a SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of KHRC, penned an article that sparked a much-needed conversation about the cultural surrender of black women to white supremacist notions of beauty.
At the heart of the issue is the practice of wearing fake European hair wigs, which Mutua terms 'hair pornography.' He argues that this practice is a manifestation of black self-loathing and a hatred of African biological identity.
According to Mutua, the argument that it's a matter of personal choice is a lame attempt to silence the interrogation of a serious and malignant social and cultural practice. He believes that people make bad choices all the time, and to make choice infallible is anti-intellectual thought tyranny.
Mutua also draws parallels with the pedagogy of the oppressed, where the oppressed internalize the needs, feelings, and values of the oppressor so deeply that they defend them as though they were their own. He cites Malcolm X's speech on the difference between 'field niggers' and 'house niggers' to illustrate this point.
Ultimately, Mutua calls for an end to the shameful practice of hair pornography, which he believes is a manifestation of black self-hatred and a cultural surrender to white supremacy.
