Saturday, February 12, 2011

1 reason behind stigma and stereotyping of loc rockers in St.Lucia..

As i promised i have a brief explanation as to why so much negativity is attached to loc wearers here in St.Lucia. In the late seventies(lonnnggg before i was born) police in St.Lucia along with help from neighboring countries conducted a raid on St.Lucia's highest peak.
Mt. Gimie
Apparently a tribe of "Rastafarians" (using this word sparingly) resided there and alot of crime went on. Most of all lots of marijuana was cultivated in LARGE AMOUNTS. Many of these locs carriers were arrested marijuana plants were destroyed and a new type of hatred toward loc carriers was created in my fair helen St.Lucia. Hopefully the generation with all this negative small-minded thinking is slowly ending. I remember asking someone( a bank worker) what was their personal issue with locs.."Nothing," she responded. however when i further inquired as to whether or not she'd hire a someone wearing locs to my dismay she said no. Needless to say she thought that it was an environment where there was a lot of customer interaction. "Society" doesn't accept it she said. Who or what makes up society?According to Oxford dictionary is " the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community; the community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations:"  Everyone makes up society. We are all a part of it. If we start being more open minded one person at a time there can be a change in negativity and people won't be as scared be be their true selves. I've had people come up to me in the past two weeks commending me on my bravery. Like really?? Bravery, for being my own true self, embracing my god given hair texture. We shouldn't be scared to be who God designed. All in the name of acceptance?  Oh well....People have been bombarding me with questions like.. Whats happen when you're going to need a job? or Do you think someone is going to hire you with locs?  Well to answer that.....I am going to find a job..and YES someone will hire me..Not everyone thinks small.What's really sad is that most St.Lucians are black and having relaxed hair is more "normal" than natural hair.  Although more and more people are going back to natural hair I'm hoping that they don't do in the name of a fashion trend which would eventually end but they do it because they have  accepted who they are.


In next post: 2 week update!!!


Till Whenever


OOze with Happiness 




1 comment:

  1. Hey when I was down there I saw a lot of people with locks and I thought their locks were beautiful. The stereotype still exisit even in the United State which is very sad and I do hope one day all of us get to embarce are uniqueness and just accept our hair period. Good luck and I can't wait to see the two week update.

    ReplyDelete