What Equestrians of Color are Forgetting in the Helmet Debate
The latest argument in the rush to wokeness overlooks one glaring issue.
When I was five, I wanted to be a professional ice-skater. I took lessons at a local rink and got pretty good, eventually getting a costume and my own pair of skates. This was a big deal for a kid like me, as my family didn’t have a lot of money for extracurriculars.
My dreams were dashed about a year later when the rink closed down to make way for a huge high-rise office building. My mom then enrolled me in ballet lessons, first with Mrs. Lorenzini, but I wanted to learn to tap dance, as well. Right next door to my elementary school was the posh studio of Rayna Allen, one of the famed Allen sisters – Gracie Allen being the most famous – just a couple of blocks away from Nancy Pelosi’s Pacific Heights mansion.
In my 11-year dance career, I participated in several recitals. Recitals required a number of things: tights, leotards, and shoes in specific colors, and always, one’s hair in a bun. Now, if you watch any of our podcasts, my hair is very curly. So, yes, my hair rebelled (and, dating myself here, required enough Aqua Net to earn a glare from Greta Thunberg’s mother), but we got the job done.
My daughter also took ballet lessons. And, she also had to abide by the same rules as I did with respect to the color of tights, shoes, leotards, and yes, hair up in a bun.
One could make the argument, well, just who sets these standards? Many would say, “probably someone white.” Someone who didn’t have to deal with hair like “ours.” Perhaps those folks should check out the stunning photos at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, or the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
I have been a big proponent of people wearing their hair however they want in the workplace (what has subsequently become the “Crown Act”). If it’s clean and professional, who cares if it’s braided, in dreads, or in a bun? And, before someone says something, yes, cared-for dreads count as clean and professional.
Enter the recent kerfuffle by equestrians of color, who are protesting the lack of helmets to accommodate elaborate hairstyles associated with our culture. Unlike workplace hair, I do have some issues with this “demand,” and it’s summed up in one word: safety.
Are we now going to have hard hats – that Black people have somehow managed to wear for decades – and industry-specific headgear to accommodate something arbitrary like preferred hairstyle? You can argue “culture,” but “safety” will trump every time. We wear seatbelts for safety, hazmat suits (I don’t hear complaints from Black biohazard workers . . . because, hello, safety), and headgear, to me, falls under that category.
Black children ride bikes and skateboards and manage to fit their hair under helmets. Helmets require a certain “fit” to provide that safety. No Black mom is going to risk her kid’s head in an accident because she spent hours braiding her child’s hair!
Black firefighters, the aforementioned Black biohazard experts, and a myriad of other professionals are required to wear safety gear. I could buy this cultural argument if I didn’t know firsthand that hair – including braided hair, can be worn in a bun (even very tight ones) and other styles that standard helmets, hats, and equipment can fit.
Everyone is so woke now that we are straining gnats while swallowing cultural camels. The helmet discussion is basic common sense, something increasingly less “common.”
— M.