A Change.org petition surfaced last week from a New York woman upset about Jay Z and Beyoncé‘s toddler daughter’s hairstyle, and making a request to “comb her hair.” Since then, the issue has sparked debate on the Internet, and now R&B singer India.Arie has thrown herself in Blue Ivy’s corner with a Twitlonger post.
“Why does ANYone get the idea that its [sic] ok to make fun of a child?” she asked in a post on the site, which allows users to publish messages to their Twitter account that are longer than the standard 140 characters. “In public no less?”
The post comes after the petition took off with over 5,194 signatures to date.
“This celebrity culture that hypnotizes people into thinking a person is LITERALLY NOT REAL because you see them on television is a spell the watcher HIM or HER SELF MUST BREAK,” the singer continued. “Blue Ivy — is a CHILD… and ANYONE thinking to themselves right now: ‘But she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth so what does it matter what I say’… Denying ANY PERSON their humanity, is a GAME we should ALL stop playing.”
She added that she believes people would find issue with Blue Ivy’s hair no matter what — even if it was “TOO DONE,” and that “being gentle with a child’s hair is simply appropriate – this goes the same for ALL children.”
However, the comments and signatures have continued to flow in on the petition, which was created by Jasmine Toliver of Brooklyn, who has since changed her name on the petition page to simply, JT.
“I hate when a mother looks like a million dollars with their hair all done and the child looks like they haven’t seen a comb since they were born,” one commenter wrote.
Another was more succinct: “Cruelty to children has to stop.”
It isn’t the first time Arie has made a public statement about hair. In 2006, she released I Am Not My Hair, a song that questioned society’s intense focus on judging and stereotyping based on, for instance, the look of one’s hair.
Source: radio.com
