Cut It Out! The Ridiculous Discussion Surrounding Gabby Douglas’ Hair

August 1st, 2012 - By Veronica Wells

Source: washingtonpost.com

I love black people. They’re very close to my heart.  But my love for them also allows me to see and speak on the areas in which we need much improvement. One of those areas has become painfully apparent to me over the past couple of days, in the rise and relevance of Olympian, Gabrielle Douglas and the subsequent discussion about the tidiness of her hair.

The nation has always placed a great deal of emphasis on gymnastics in the Summer Olympics. And this year, black America also took particular pride in the fact that one of the stars of the U.S. Olympic team was a 16 year old, adorable black girl from Virginia. You might have missed it but Gabrielle, or Gabby, has a fascinating back story behind her 10 year professional gymnastic career.

It was her older sister that suggested her mother enroll her in gymnastics, and from there the road has been paved with sacrifices, struggles and most recently success. Just two years ago, Gabby moved 3,000 miles away from her family and in with a host family in Iowa so she could train with former gymnastic great, coach Liang Chow, the same man that trained fellow U.S. gymnast, Shawn Johnson. No doubt the move was taxing and Gabby’s mother said, there was a time when Gabby wanted to quit. But her mom encouraged her to fight for her dream and she decided to persevere.

Obviously, she made the right decision. Gabby went on to not only qualify for the Olympics, she earned a spot on the individual all around and afterward, she helped her team secure a gold medal. The first gold medal a U.S. gymnastics team has received in 16 years.

People across the nation celebrated this victory for the U.S., some claiming that they shed tears watching the U.S. perform. Even President Obama personally congratulated each of the girls, saying, “Michelle and I have watched and decided, of all the Olympians, you guys amaze us the most.”

People have said some great things about Gabby’s accomplishments. But I’ve been especially impressed with what she’s had to say about herself.  In every interview, she talks about how she believed in herself, how she encouraged herself and how God helped her get to this place.

But apparently, all of this is not enough for some people. Despite her immense accomplishments, both mental, emotional, and athletic some people, mostly black women, are finding fault with Gabby’s hair of all things. And these people have taken to Twitter to express their grievances. A part of me doesn’t want to share their comments with you because I don’t want to give them any further shine, but hopefully, seeing these comments in black and white will cause someone else to think before they tweet.

 

Source: jezebel.com

Another person had the audacity to say that Gabby needed to “represent.” Without being a hypocrite and calling these people out of their names, I’ll just say all of these…twitter thugs are simple. Simple for focusing on something as trivial as hair, simple for talking about a 16 year old girl, and simple for not understanding that Gabby is representing for us at one of the highest levels. But instead of celebrating her, we, black people, are taking this opportunity to talk about that state of her hair. The girl is literally soaring through the air, doing things with her body we can’t even fathom and folks on Twitter are wondering about the amount of gel she’s used. It’s petty and it further perpetuates the notion that black women place the appearance of our hair over, maintaining physical fitness and in Gabby’s case, reaching a dream. If you ask me, Gabby’s hair was slicked back, just like her teammates’ hair was slicked back. She had clips in her hair, like her teammates had clips in their hair. It looked fine, especially for a girl who was completing Olympic level gymnastics on a world stage. You think she might have been sweating a lil bit? And even if her hair didn’t “look good,” what would inspire someone to come at an under aged child, who also happens to be on Twitter? If you must clown a child, do so in the privacy of your home so you don’t shame yourself as Gabby  brings honor to our country.

One of the things I appreciate most about black people is our ability to express ourselves, vividly and candidly. But I’ll also be the first to admit that sometimes…a lot of times, you just can’t please us. We’ll always find fault with someone, particularly another black person, in a position of prominence. Crabs in a barrel. The fact that Gabby, an adorable 16 year old, God-fearing Olympian, can’t escape the unprovoked attacks from “grown” people proves just how much growing up [some] black people have yet to do.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/chocoliqshooz01 Patricia Vaden

    SOME PEOPLE NEED NOT COMMENT…..SHE IS COMPETING FOR A GOLD MEDAL IN GYMNASTICS, NOT HAIRNASTICS (I KNOW IT’S NOT A WORD, BUT IT FITS). REALLY, COME ON NOW. THIS YOUNG LADY IS REPPIN IN A SPORT THAT IS DOMINANT BY WHITE GIRLS AND ALL PEOPLE CAN DO IS TALK ABOUT HER HAIR. LEARN TO SUPOORT THE ATHLETE. WHY IS IT THAT PEOPLE ALWAYS FIND FAULT IN SOMETHING OR ANOTHER ABOUT SOMETHING SO IRRELVANT. THIS YOUNG LADY DID SOMETHING THAT MOST PEOPLE WILL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE AT DOING. EVEN HER OWN TEAMMATE WHO THEY THOUGHT WAS GOING TO ROCK DIDN’T EVEN MAKE IT TO THE FINALS BECAUSE SHE ROCKED SO HARD. COME ON, LET’S SUPPORT THIS YOUNG LADY AND HER ACCOMPLISHMENT. BAD HAIR-DO OR NOT SHE MADE THE COVER OF TIMES MAGAZINE, WHICH HER HATERS WILL NEVER DO EVEN IF THEY LOOKED LIKE MICHELE O, OPRAH OR BEYONCE…GET A LIFE N STIOP HATING N START CONGRATULATING…GO GABBY…KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1738605059 Clarise ImaPinklady Jones

    For all you low self-esteem black women and guys I see, (hmmm?) hating on Gabby, tell me this, where are YOU and where is GABBY?!! I rest my case!!!!

  • black with kinky hair

    this is very disheartening, why would you even put that out there for everyone to know you re so ignorant. black peoples hair is naturally kinky curly so why does she have to “fix” anything.
    All these people are just crabs in a barrel, trying to pick this girl apart but shes still doing great, now what??
    i had no idea this was going on..so sad

  • http://www.facebook.com/jvbzook Jeffrey V Brown

    One thing that really concerns me is the over-emphasis of so many black women over HAIR!!!!!!! So much so that, due to being afraid of getting it messed up, lots of women won’t exercise. So much so, that even a team member of a GOLD-WINNING GYMNASTICS TEAM (Gabby Douglas) is being hounded about her HAIR!! She is athlete, not a model!!! I want perfect 10′s, not hair comments. This is Thursday, and I want her to better than Kerri Strug (Atlanta) Nadia (Romania), Mary Lou Retton etc. I WANT HER TO WIN INDIVIDUAL G-O-L-D!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Lady

    That’s why “some” black folk continue to live in poverty because they are always concerned with cloths, hair and material shyt, all this while living in the projects, or living pay check to pay check, buying weave instead of paying bills and shyt. Some black folk dont even sacrifice for their children to give them a better life, some dont even take their children places other than Chuckie Cheese and wonder why their children dont know shyt outside of the latest tennis shoes, or “out-fit”…..SMMFH!!! Would rather buy a pack of hair, or fake Louie instead of paying for some type of activity that will help develop whatever talent their child or children might have. #dumbassfolk

  • Mona

    My people…….LORD have mercy! I guess whe is suppossed to have a WEAVE pony tail dangling past her ARSE!!! Ni&&as slay me.

  • Anon

    Idk, I was a gymnast and a all-star cheerleader and had to perform many of the things gabby does…. except bars, I flippin hated bars but I think she’s an awesome athlete and I’ve honestly never seen a person that strong on beam BUT her hair does a look a little raggedy. I think people are just commenting on things that they care about. For some people, hair is a big deal. I’m not saying it should overshadow her accomplishments or be the main topic of discussion but why suppress someone elses opinion just because you find it trivial? Yes those folks sound silly to the majority of us but they have every right to state their opinion and look foolish so let them.

    • bkabbagej

      Feel free to express yourself with small minded comments but why say those things on twitter, where this young lady and the world can see your ignorance and Gabby can read them. Instead of making her feel proud and congradulate her on her accomplishments you insult her. Be mindful of your opinions and remember to treat and say things in direct correlation to how you want to be treated and spoken about.

      • Anon

        It’s twitter, where people to go give there opinion on everything from politics to Gabby’s hair. Tis life.

    • MLS2698

      So, your hair was neat, right? I’m just asking because I don’t think its impossible for a person to look neat while performing SOME sports.

      • Anon

        Yes my hair was always neat. For gymnastics it was in a nice ponytail and while cheering we had to all have the same hairstyle so whatever that was, half up/half down or ponytail or whatever it was always neat. And I threw some SERIOUS very complicated and dangerous tumbling passes/combinations in both my gymnatics and competitive cheering. There was a piece or two out of place after I was done but thats to be expected.

    • Angel

      The thing is that twitter is not always meant for important things. Its just a fun website where you share whatever you are thinking. I dont think this a big deal at all. The fact that people are getting so worked up over it is….interesting. I mean seriously people (on this post and others) are talking about self-hate, natural vs. relaxed ect. like What? These ppl just made small insignificant comments who cares!? Im sure she dosent.

  • Ebony82

    Those twitter hates can kiss Gabby’s Olympic a$$!!! She’s doing a great job. I bet all those haters are fake weave wearing glue tracking overweight dumb behinds.

  • chileplease

    They probably have never flipped nothing but a pancake and they are worried about the pretty girls hair. Small minded people Irk me.

  • Jo-nita

    The same people would have a major problem if somebody white said something “This Stupid”…

  • Darling

    I noticed ppl mentioned how hard it is to maintain while flipping and jumping, but that let’s me know these folks don’t work out. Sweat is the biggest hair issue for black female athletes. Venus and Serena had hair trouble maintaining too, but they are pulling it off better now. Any black woman that is in great athletic physical condition MUST sweat and that makes it harder to maintain any type of smooth and silky hairstyle. It’s really ignorant that the idea of sweating (for health), or to perform ( as in Olympics) is a concept lost to Black women. A da*n shame!

    • caramelchocolate

      It’s called go get some locs and stop waisting money, looking crazy and complaining.

  • Dunsford

    First the mosquito comment witch hunt, now the hair criticism… wtf is wrong with people and the olympics this year? This sorta stuff never happens in the winter olympics.

  • Childish People

    wtf why are people paying that close of attention to her hair am i the only one that was focused on her athletic ability… people need to stop

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=551680935 Eric McDaniel

    One of the chicks talking junk is bald headed. How can she hate?

    • DeVanneJuiceeJeniceChinn

      how do u know that is a chic? it could be a shemale. and if they didn’t fall under the former, i assumed one would be intelligent enough to distinguish it as the latter.

  • nikki

    I was so proud to watch her as I sit over her as a US service member serving in a Afghanistan!! Obviously the twitter folks have to much time on there hand!! I would like to offer them a vacation to where I am at!! Don’t think hair would be to important to them over here!! Just silly and their twitter friends to respond and encourage the convo are fools too!! As if we don’t have enough external struggles as black females!!! Thats why the crab effect will always prevail in our community!!’

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Muthapukkin-Tinney/100001244269956 Anthony Muthapukkin Tinney

    Once again,black women attacking another b/w about her natural hair.Yet b/w are QUICK to tell the world that the black man is responsible for their insecurities about their hair,and that b/m ONLY want weaves.

    • jordan24

      Actually bruh man it has been both. No need to hot potatoe blame… a wrong is a wrong

  • ladycashmere

    Why do we have to bring our people down? Just praise her for doing a job well done. Congratulation Gabby, don’t let no one steal your joy!!!

  • Tagirl

    Gabby is beautiful. Um, she’s competing in a vigorous sport, let’s see what their hair would look like if they had her job! You don’t do that. That’s a baby! She’s 16 years old and has reached the pinnacle of her sport, Olympic Gold, and has the opportunity to win an individual gold. What are they doing?

  • Jasmine

    That is exactly why their pathetic butts are at home on a computer typing about the olympics instead of being in them. Too busy living through twitter, fb, and all this other social nonsense to have a real life and accomplish something.

  • Pghgirl

    It’s this mindset ( hair, looks, bags, shoes, etc.) that keep a lot of people under a rock as far as real issues/events going on in their cities/ states / world. She’s not fat w/ fake hair (isn’t that refreshing!) Grow a brain people or hey… here’s a dime – go buy one!

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