Comments on: LA’s Miss Chinatown gets a make-over

By: Ang

Ang — Mon, 22 May 2006 06:27:22 +0000

Hello,
Believe it or not, I am Angela Chao Roberson and my friends call me Ang. I “googled” my name and this webpage came up. I am having trouble finding out where this webpage is orginated from but to clarify things, I did make the comment about the little girls hair… but I did not mean anything personal about it. The reporter asked me what the little girl looked like. She was great, she was beautiful, happy and healthy. I was privledged enough to grow up in a diverse community and I have been very lucky to not have been discrimated against but that does not mean that I do not know that it happens. Therefore, having met such a young girl who is mixed growing up in a majority populated Chinese community makes me even more proud to be a part of the Miss LA Chinatown Pageant. There are so many factors, emotions and perspectives to be considered but the last thing that has ever entered my mind is that this is a beauty pageant. I have been on the court for almost 4 months and after everything that I have learned and experience, the most important thing that I can emphasize and express is that “All women, regardless of there race, skin color, or hair type should always represent themselves, their community, and their culture in the most positve manner.” I could ramble forever but please do not misinterpret my hair comment. Out of the month long, on and off interview I had with the reporter, I am really shocked myself that she chose to quote me on that! I believe that natural hair is the most beautiful. Sometimes I wear my hair straight, sometimes curly, right now I have a lot of split ends but don’t worry “Hair conversation” is definitley the least of my worries… lets talk about positive chinese or positive black role models for today’s youth!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 21 May 2006 13:07:41 +0000

ghlku

By: Theozani

Theozani — Sun, 14 May 2006 00:20:17 +0000

I have short “nappy” hair, one, because of my African parents, two, because even though I grew up with a mother who was torn between braiding and chemically relaxing my hair, I eventually told her to stop doing those things to my hair, and now I were it natural. Strangely enough, I no longer get compliments about my hair from WHITE people. Black people compliment me more than EVER before. I eventually told mum how my self-esteem problems, eating disorders, etc, stemmed from never having felt confident about being ethnically and racially Black.

People need to understand that Angela’s quote comes from a mother who was torn between notions of “good” hair (her own) and “bad” hair (Other hair), just like my own, and I am a 100% non-mixed Black African female. Angela will never be Black, nor Chinese, but her sense of self will be measured agaisnt the dominant social group. White. Just like the rest of us.

By: Theozani

Theozani — Sun, 14 May 2006 00:17:10 +0000

I have short “nappy” hair, one, because of my African parents, two, because even though I grew up with a mother who was torn between braiding and chemically relaxing my hair, I eventually told her to stop doing those things to my hair, and now I were it natural. Strangely enough I no longer get compliments about my hair from white people. Black people compliment me more than EVER before. I eventually told mum how my self-esteem problems, eating disorders, etc, resulted from never having felt confident just the way I was.

People need to understand that Angela’s qoute comes from a mother who was torn between notions of “good” hair (her own) and “bad” hair (Other hair), just like my own, and I am a 100% non-mixed Black African female. Angela will never be Black, nor Cchinese, but her sense of self will be measured agaisnt the dominant social group. White. Just like the rest of us.

By: monkeylumps

monkeylumps — Fri, 05 May 2006 20:53:36 +0000

Some people wrongly associate tightly coiled hair with ugliness or somehow being unclean, I suppose. I don’t like terms that hurt others and “nappy hair” would be one of them, depending on the context or how it is said. Like Joy Princess said, people have been beaten up because they threw that term at somebody.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with having “difficult” or “nappy” hair…it’s how others react to it that might cause a person to feel bad about it. Merq: as long as YOU love your hair, that’s what matters. I don’t know whether you’re male or female but your coworker probably has issues with her own hair. What is an Indian/White American, out of curiosity? Is that a person with one white parent and one Native parent?

By: gatamala

gatamala — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:25:43 +0000

I wonder how much her parents have to do w/ the hair comment (that I hope she didn’t really make).

By: mr guy

mr guy — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:33:06 +0000

“Many in the crowd leaned forward or stood up to get a better look. They had puzzled looks on their faces. Some of them whispered that they thought she was too curvy. Others tried to figure out what percentage of her background was Chinese.”

LOL!Too curvy???!What, only skinny size zero chinese women matter or something?And I have to agree it is funny how everyone is trying to guess how much of her is chinese.

I’m happy for her, but I feel kind of sorry for her as well, based on the “hair” comment.Nothing wrong with natural black hair.Nothing at all

By: the joy princess

the joy princess — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 04:56:10 +0000

I’m happy to be slightly nappy!

Man, everything behind that one little word is why some little girls catch a beatdown on the blacktop from their peers who, in turn, get sent to the salon to get their hair burned to a lifeless bone straight.

By: merq

merq — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 20:03:44 +0000

Yeah, it’s pretty disturbing.

My hair falls a much closer to the wavy/curly side of the curly-kinky continuum. But when I leave it to grow out (and being that I tend not to give a shit about my hair, it often does), the curls tighten til’ they can tighten no more, exploding in one mean bird’s nest of a ‘fro.

(that’s honestly the best way I can explain it)

Anyway, I let my hair grow out for 5 months over the winter, as I’m not the hat-wearing type. Thus, I had the messiest fro I’ve had in at least a decade– I loved it.

Now, a coworker of mine wasn’t nearly as enamored with the hair (despite her having what I believe to be a crush on me). She kept making teasing little comments about how my hair used to be so nice, and now it’s just “nappy.”

While, knowing my hair better than anyone else (naturally), I knew it wasn’t nappy, I still had to respond, “And…? What’s wrong with nappy?”

I kind-of had to ignore the exchange afterwards, as I know her to be one sadly mixed-up Indian/White American with issues on everything from hair texture to skin tone.

I just wish people would stop acting like “nappy” was a dirty word.

By: brad

brad — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 19:43:21 +0000

Yeah, when I read the article, I was disappointed about Angela’s hair comment. Hopefully, the cycle of teaching kids that one type of hair is better than another has to end.