Is Angelina an Unfit Mother for Zahara?

"In recent pictures it's clear Angelina Jolie hasn’t taken the time to learn or understand the long and painful history of African-American women and hair. If she had I can’t imagine she would continue to allow Zahara to look like she has in the past few months. Photos of Zahara show the 4-year-old girl sporting hair that is wild and unstyled, uncombed and dry. Basically: a 'hot mess.'"

- Allison Samuels

Allison Samuels, a Black senior writer for Newsweek, recently posted an article where she criticized Angelina Jolie about the way she was caring for the hair of her Black daughter, Zahara.

Samuels said in her article, "Hair that is nice, neat, and cared for also gives African-American girls the confidence that they can fit into the world at large without being seen as completely different. One truism of childhood is that nothing is more important than being like everyone else. Well, as like everyone else as you can be with Hollywood parents. But not all people will recognize Zahara as the child of movie royalty. To many, she’ll be just a black little girl—and a black girl with bad hair at that."

My first inclination was to agree with Samuels, but then as I analyzed her article some more, I thought it was a little unfair of her to criticize Jolie so harshly...especially after I saw a picture of Samuels's hair.

I don't like the tone that Samuels has taken in her article, and I find it a little hypocritical. She criticizes a four-year-old's natural hairdo, when she also has a very natural-looking hairdo, which does not look so "done" to me. (Seen in the picture above.)

Now, I will be the first to admit that I am certainly a low-maintenance gal, but before we criticize Jolie, who believes she is giving this little girl a better life, let's take care of ourselves first. I have seen plenty of Black mothers escorting their Black children with nappy heads and dirty clothes. And then...let's also talk about the Black children, who are getting relaxers as soon as they can grow three little strands of hair and have the nicest clothes, their ears pierced, and wearing gold and diamonds, but can't talk or read a lick.

Now, I don't know what's going on in the Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt household, but I can say that in all of the pictures that I've seen of Zahara, she has never looked dirty, unkept, or even unhappy. Now, I would like to see Zahara with some ponytails because she is a little girl. I will say that. However, it doesn't mean that Jolie is a bad parent because she lets her daughter rock an afro or even that she does not care about her daughter's heritage. Good grief! Let's try to remember that there is more to a Black woman than just the way she wears her hair...at least I would like to think so.

- Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Photos: Newsweek/Getty Images, Ian Gittler/Media Research Center