Dear Editor,

It seems pretty uncanny to me that, in 2017, we have waited so long to generate a national dialogue about ideas of and acceptance of natural beauty to an international pageant. But if you expected me to speak to that notion in this letter, it would be remiss of me not to highlight that, in Jamaica, we struggle with the appreciation of our own Afro-Caribbean identities.

On Sunday, Miss Universe Jamaica 2017 Davina Bennett placed third in the Miss Universe competition. Of course, a national celebration of black beauty and black hair followed.

However, it is still a fact that we still subject young women to shame in schools for sporting their natural, kinky hair. Schools have developed policies to shame and police female hair which I believe to be the narratives developed in many all-girls schools in which hairstyles such as chiney bumps, afros, and certain cornrows are not allowed. The measures implemented involve students being forced out of classes to plait their hair or place their hair in a ponytail or bun. When we impose these measures we take away a student’s right to freedom of expression and, most of all, affirm their identity.

We seem to be scared of anything inherently African or related to our descendants, and often forget that a majority of our population have traces of African descent within us. For that I am ashamed at how little we have progressed as a nation in accepting who we are, especially in the formal education system.

I sincerely hope the grooming policy in schools will address these issues that stem from our lack of appreciation of our identities. I hope we will be progressive and reject the scowls of those who frown on the afro.

Mikhail C Williams

Digital media & communications manager

Equality Youth

mikhailwilliamsart@gmail.com