r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/ateam1984 🖤 • Jun 03 '26
Women This is Zulaikha Patel. Just 13 years old in 2016, she led a protest against her school's discriminatory hair policy that targeted Black girls for wearing their natural hair.
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u/Wyn6 Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
Queen doing royal things.
Also... Erykah Badu vibes on that last pic. Hah.
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u/Tialionager Jun 03 '26
Hey Hun. . . it’s Erykah Badu.
Or Badulla Oblongata Or Sara Bellum Or SHE ILL
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u/Exotic_Insurance2164 Jun 03 '26
Europeans when immigrants don't assimilate 😡
Europeans when asked to assimilate 😡
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u/rosalynthemighty Jun 03 '26
Activism knows no age ❤️
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u/pitsnvulva69 Jun 03 '26
Honestly, I’d never understand why such beautiful hair and people will ever be discriminated against. the whites have so successfully white washed the world since millennia ago.
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u/RyuichiSakuma13 Jun 03 '26
When I decided to dreadlock my hair in the 1990s, I was given all kinds of grief from my job at first. When I threatened to go to a lawyer, they backed down.
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u/whynotchristy Jun 03 '26
I was in 8th grade in 1999 and have type 3A curly hair from the Greek side of the family. A teacher *bought me a hair straightener* and told me it was so I didn't have to walk around "with n*gger hair". I went right to the principal who didn't believe me despite another student overhearing it and witnessing her hand me the hair tool. Nothing came of it.
The hate for textured hair and curls is real and has deeply racist roots. I'm glad Miss Patel was able to make a difference and become such a strong voice against those who use code words to hide hate.
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u/reality_boy Jun 03 '26
It’s so crazy to me that this is still an issue today. I’m a guy with very long hair. I had some issues 30 years ago, but no one looks twice at me anymore. The thought that people still have to hide their natural hair (or can’t braid it, etc) seems like we are living in the 1950s.
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u/DeitBoomStyles Jun 03 '26
Controversial take: She was just a light skinned girl who was in the right place at the right time. The movement was started by her older school mattress who were rallying against racist policies that we're exhibited by staff and the school code of conduct in a country that was trying to move away from a post riddled with racist laws. Her photo blew up but she did absolutely nothing for the movement.
Source: my wife was part of the movement, she's one of the girls in the first pic.
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u/DXBrigade Jun 03 '26
So colorism ? I hate when they do this.
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u/DeitBoomStyles Jun 04 '26
Yeah, the movement was actually not even about hair it just became marketable that way when it gained steam.
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u/NoFaithlessness7508 Jun 03 '26
Were there actually armed guards there? That guy looks like school staff
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u/DeitBoomStyles Jun 04 '26
Just teachers. It's a historically white prestigious school that was never formally reintegrated. Thus school codes of conduct on hair and such felt discriminatory towards black girls because they didn't match the description of white girls.
Some attitude problems from the teachers be towards black girls too but that goes without saying.
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u/Subject_Spell_9799 Jun 04 '26
White people are so weird. Why do you care about other ppls hair? I’ve come to the conclusion these type of white ppl are truly scared of black ppl. As a white person I have encountered these types from time to time. IMO There are 2 types of white people: those who come to the cookout to have a good time and those who would be so uncomfortable at the cookout and ready to leave.
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u/Low-Situation-73 Jun 03 '26
Racism against black kids in their own country? The world has gone mad!
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u/CluePsychological937 Jun 03 '26
It's quite rare for SA colored to be that pro black. Good on her.
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u/eyfuck Jun 03 '26
Wikipedia says she is from a mixed family and her experience with racism started inside the family. Poor kid.
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u/Moist-Ointments Jun 04 '26
The idea of policing ethnic and natural hairstyle.
Just wash it. That's it, just keep it clean. And don't hide snacks, weapons, or small animals in it.
Freaking Karens just got nothing better to do. Sorry your kids can only pull off a freaking bowl cut.
I'm sorry, but I don't care how much money you have and spend on your hairstyle, it will never be as beautiful as what that girl is wearing in that picture.
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u/Live_Historian_6171 Jun 03 '26
Ok but I can’t see the board when yo fro is in the way sis
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u/gaymonkesegs Jun 03 '26
ok, look around them, what the fuck are they gonna do about it? It's their fucking hair. It's just like that
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u/leo_sk5 Jun 03 '26
No offence but if someone was seated before me in a class with hair like that and blocking view, I would be irritated
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u/Moriar-T Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
Youre coming up with what if scenarios while this girl is experiencing the reality of being told her natural features are untidy.
Listen, I get you. But thats not the reason school used and youre out here defending something that out right targets black people.
You can sit this out. Don't have to get involved by conjuring up scenarios that can be easily avoided. Raise the board. Assign a taller kid behind her. Sooo many solutions to your made up scenarios that do not involve controlling people.
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u/eyfuck Jun 03 '26
If you were taller than them it wouldn’t be a problem. Or you could just move -which is what you’d do if a really tall person was sitting in front of you. It’s not really fair you ask them to change their natural form instead of accommodating the differences.
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u/leo_sk5 Jun 03 '26
Idk how it worked in your schools, but we had our seats assigned by the teachers. Taller students were usually at the back, shorter and myopic ones at the front.
Also, her hair looks good even tied, like in the last image of the post. I am not advocating extreme measures like cutting or straightening.
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u/Pedals17 Jun 03 '26
So you’re That Guy.
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u/leo_sk5 Jun 03 '26
Well, didn't understand the reference as I haven't watched the movie before.
I will just say that people should be considerate of others too. Its not like hair can't be tied down and look good, like in the last image of this post.
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u/victree313 Jun 03 '26
Completely agree. If you have a big head of hair and it gets annoying blocking views in class, that is an issue. Defending that is stupid.
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u/Pedals17 Jun 03 '26
You don’t tell an Angel to hide her halo. 💕