"I Love My Hair" is the latest clip from Sesame Street to go viral, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. The perky ode to naturally curly hair, sung by an adorable brown skinned muppet girl, is actually performed by Chauncey Johnson who starred in "The Lion King" on Broadway. I think I watched it about five times, and enjoyed it so much I lost track of time completely.
Remember the infamous decades-old social experiment showing that vast numbers of black children preferred to play with the white dolls because they were prettier, and labeled the black dolls as ugly, with "bad" hair? Years have passed, and sadly, a very recent rehashing of that study shows that things haven't changed much. Sesame Street's head writer became concerned about his daughter, who was not very fond of her own natural afro after playing with dolls that had long, blonde hair. The lyrics were written because there are too many little girls growing up in the world believing that there is only one kind of "pretty" hair. The swirling melody will make you dance in your seat, and you'll be humming the tune for the rest of the day.
The muppet chanteuse grooves, sways, and models fiercely cute accessories in her afro. She even rocks my personal favorite, corn rows with beads! In elementary school, I totally owned that look. I annually planned my first day of school outfits around the colors of the beads in my hair. My hair would be braided with colorful beads every year before I went to summer camp, and I always managed to coordinate the colors of the swimsuits and sneakers I took along for each trip. When I tried to jump double dutch, if I got the rhythm just right, the loud "click-clack" sound of the beads made me sound totally bad ass.
Sesame Street shows real people of all colors living and working among orange people with purple mustaches, going about their daily business, because it's nothing new to to them see a deaf woman having a conversation about vegetables with a green dude in a trash can. Sesame Street has always been one of the most diverse shows on television, with a cast of actors of all ages and races, but the actual muppets are usually ethnically-ambiguous fuzzy creatures. We now have a muppet who is most definitely, without a doubt, a black girl... with a fierce afro! Self hatred is an epidemic among young girls of all colors and sizes, and showing them positive images of all types of beauty will boost their self-esteem and stop them from becoming self-hating, insecure adult women. If the geniuses in marketing know what's good for them, a million of these dolls will be on the shelves before the holidays.
I want one.
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