I get what you’re saying but IMHO, it’s the “thugs” who have paved the way for dreads being more acceptable. Like most everything in African-American culture, our style, our music, our way of being began in neighborhoods and “hoods.” By the time it becomes pervasive in the “hood” so to speak, the mainstream is just taking notice.

About two years ago I was watching television and it dawned on me that one of my “normal” activities might in fact be abnormal. I count. Yeah I know…COOO COOO! but hear me out…

I’m more excited about getting a brownie than I am about seeing them. I guarantee before I step foot inside their doorway, I’m going to get a brownie…maybe two.

Back in college when I spent my free time combing the stacks for books on race relations that were published in the 1960s and 70s that hadn’t been checked out for years, I could’ve never imagined that at age 30-something I’d be in a relationship with none other than a White man.