Published on 19 August 2004
A Black Studies professor asserts that the substitution of mass-media-approved hairdos in place of traditional African hair styles and the replacement of Ebonics by Standard English are forms of cultural genocide being perpetrated against the African American community. One of her students, Chayresse, is inspired to get her hair cut into a Natural style. Chayresse returns home from college to her neighborhood in a suburb of Washington, D.C. for her grandmother’s funeral. Her new African-inspired hair style and her new political outlook scandalize her friends and neighbors, especially at the local beauty shop...The young men of the neighborhood suddenly find their girlfriends demanding more respect.