Hair, Hippies and Black Voices

Someone is going to have to tell me if this is pejorative, offensive, off-limits or god-forbid racist because I’m sick of hiding this and I honestly don’t know why it would be offensive. I just LOVE Black women’s voices. I have yet to find a white, female singer who brings me to tears, who gets me up dancing, who gives me chills and just makes me feel all kinds of things like a soulful Black woman’s voice does. And hence, all of my favorite female vocal artists are Black women. I’m sure this has a lot to do with the spirituality and the ability of Black people to call upon their musical talent to create joy in their lives under the worst of circumstances, and that many Black people were brought up singing gospel. There are explanations, but I just don’t understand how this could be a bad thing?

Today was Hippie day at HardBeauty headquarters. This was my costume two years ago. I wanted to update it a little, but then I got emotional and the day went by and I didn’t. I miss the 70’s. It was a dynamic, revolutionary, disastrous in many ways, time. But there was something different about the struggles we had. The solution, back then, was preached to be love. And I kinda like that idea. If you have not seen the movie, or listened to the soundtrack from the movie HAIR, you absolutely must. Trigger warning: There are some bad words used in some of the songs to make a point. We used to be able to do that. Talk about THE words, and sing about them. Not use them as weapons. Here’s one of my favorite songs of all times. This woman’s voice slays me, and I recently discovered that J ‘Hud did a cover! I challenge you not to cry. If you don’t at least feel something, then all I can say is that you are on your meds. I am not. And therefore I feel.

The message here: how can people – especially those who fight for social justice and care about strangers – be so cruel and heartless to their neighbors and friends. Fight for your causes, that’s noble and good. But not at the expense of treating those right in front of you with compassion and caring.(Watching the video and crying for the umpteenth time today. I’m a mess.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45CzgrLE9s