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My Braids (820 hits)

I was at work one day and decided to removed my scarf. I normally wear my head 100% covered.

I am one of 3 leads and my team consists of 7 individuals: 2 women, 4 men and 1 vacant (and only one black man is on my team). Anyway, I own many scarfs. I couldn't even tell you how many I have. I get them from everywhere - from other Islamic sisters; a lady at work (a white lady); my shop-aholic sister; my daughter; and with me buying them, I really can't tell you how many I have.

Anyway, that day I took my scarf off my head and draped it on my shoulders. There were no men in the office, for multiple reasons, so I removed it. Some of the women there had never seen my head uncovered before. I had been on business trips with a few in the past, so they kind of knew, but others, I guess, thought I was bald headed. It's kind of funny. I have long hair, I wear it natural, but, generally, I just braid it in about 10-12 french braids, to the back. I like to keep it neat in case I ever have to (and I pray I don't) "throw down" and it gets removed.

Some of those women were very uncomfortable with my head uncovered. I don't want to make light of it, but they seemed more at ease once when I had to put it back on (the cleaning man was on his way).

I post this to say people watch you when you say you are a thing. People watch when you say you are Muslim; when you say you are Christian; when you say you are Jewish. With a significant announcement of title comes expectations. People expect you to know certain things (Holy Qur'an, Bible, Torah); dress a certain way; and people are looking for you to do something about the ills in your community. Like i said in previous posts, I don't know how yet to organize and do, but I intend to learn how, and soon.

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Sunday, November 9th 2008 at 8:40PM
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no, unfortunately, you are right mozell. I had to check myself when a muslim woman was addressing some students at my school. I kept looking at her feet. it was rude, but i kept saying, gee, she has on nice trendy alligator boots that looked really expensive. i just expected that she would have on sandals or something. then she spoke with such firmness (the kids were being rude and she was putting them in their place). i thught OMG, she got spunk, too! i just expected she would not even talk. no, i did not know she was a part-time teacher. i had seen her once or twice and belived she was probably a parent.

now, i have a young muslim in my class who will not open her mouth. i thought they (females) were forbidden to speak. that very same day when the Muslim teacher was gong off on the kids, i covered a class for a few minutes and guess what. the young muslim girl has a twin sister. !! and guess what, this young girl would NOT SHUT UP!!!!! please understand my reality-check and forgive my ignorance on this. peace and love
Friday, November 21st 2008 at 9:35PM
agnes levine

I do understand the undertones that we receive when we do encounter those who may dress a bit differently than we do. I have a young lady that I work with, she comes to work with her hair wrapped. I know some people thinks she Muslim however she is not, she just likes the look and the flexibilty she has with what she wears.
I mainly look past what a person has on, because alot of times most of us do not look in the mirror before going out, and when we do look in the mirror we may not always see what we should. I do understand easily of how we can come to conclusions about people.....I have to remind myself all the time, what do I look like to others?
Tuesday, December 2nd 2008 at 9:35PM
Cheryl Hendrix