(photos by Matthew Craig, The Commercial Appeal)These are two beautiful photos of 7-year old Destiny Berry of Memphis, TN. She was initially barred from performing in an upcoming ballet recital at Dance Works because of her locks. The reason given by Dance Works' Director Karen Zissoff was that Miss Berry could not wear her hair in a the traditional ballet bun. Ridiculous as you can see from the photos. With some well needed public pressure, the school has recanted and Miss Berry will be able to dance, with her locks!!! To read the article go to http://www.commercialappeal.com/.
10 comments:
THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEING ABLE TO VIEW THIS ON YOUR WEBSITE MS. ZISSOFF SHOULD BE ASHAME OF HER SELF. DESTINY HAIR LOOKS FIERCE lET'S KEEP GOING IN THE STRUGGLE TO BREAK ALL BARRIERS CORVERNING NATURAL HAIR OTHER PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE ANY DECISIONS AS FAR AS WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE OR NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR HAIR
THANKS AGAIN LEIGHANN
That dear sweet baby girl! She looks beautiful, thanks for posting.
Yep, the Zoissha women must have been a racist control freak. This little girl is darling and by being on stage so far away from the audience, people would probably not even know that she had locs. Well, as we already know, the victory was and is most definently ours!
That you for posting this story. My daughter is a dancer, she is 11 and got her Sisterlocks when she was 7. For the past 4 years she and her locks have performed in Christmas shows, the June recitals and many dance competitions. On stage, with her hair in a bun, I don't think judges and audience know any difference. Her peers do comment that she has a "Big Bun". Which is true, but so are some of the ballet buns on the Non-African dancers whom prefer to keep their hair long and nature
It breaks my heart to know that in "this day and age" this pretty little girl has to grow up experiencing racism.
I would bet in 30 years or so, we'll see her again, but as a public figure -- that is, if she's not in Swan Lake.
It's a shame that after her mother is trying to instill a sense of pride in this little girl about the way she looks that this woman would use the art of ballet to try and tear it down. We aren't all supposed to be the same. That's what makes human beings so beautiful, just like the flowers in a garden. How boring would it be if all the flowers looked the same, had the same color, and smelled the same? It would be very boring indeed. I hope that this doesn't shake this little girl's self esteem. Little black girls already have enough things chipping away at our sense of self worth with out this crap. I hope she dances circles around the other girls. Thanks for posting the photos. She's a beautiful little girl.
I'm deciding whether to put my hair in sisterlocks, because I'm not sure if I can do exams with that kind of hair. It's sad, really, that I even have to be making that kind of decision, but do you guys think I should go ahead with it? I don't know, really, because I'm in Grade 8, in my last RAD yr, and I don't want to jeopardize that with my hair, but I also do not want to have to 'conform' to that standard even though I want my hair a certain way. Thoughts? Please i need to know.
Hello Anonymous,
Sadly, yours is not a unique position. Many women are made to feel they must choose between how they want to wear their natural hair and advancement in education and the work place.
I don't know your specific situation, but is it possible to compromise? I've heard that other women get Sisterlocks and then wear a wig until their locks are at a comfortable, style-able length. It's not ideal, but it's worked for some.
I hope this helps and I wish you the best with whatever you choose to do.
I read about this a while back, and went back to read the story again, but I can't find it on line can you tell me where it's located.
itsonlyanaturalthemovie.info/
Sorry Anonymous. I couldn't find it either. :-(
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