Toshia Shaw’s daughter has locs to match her mother’s. (@Toshia_Shaw/Twitter)
A Las Vegas pre-teen was teased for her locs, but she was unafraid to stand up for herself. Toshia Shaw, the mother of the 11-year-old, said her daughter, Trinity Lacy, had the encounter at her predominantly white school.
“She loved it [her hair] and stood up to them for bullying her,” Shaw tweeted Monday, Feb. 5. “She goes to a predominately white school but wears locs like me. She said she refuses to allow kids to make her feel bad about her culture.”
The uplifting post immediately won praise among Shaw’s followers.
“Tell her I’m wearing my hair like this to work tomorrow for her … because it looks great (but really so my twist out can flourish),” a woman tweeted. “It gets better, [baby]! Kids can be cruel.”
“Love the self-esteem,” someone simply tweeted.
Others shared their personal stories of hair bullying.
“This was me when I was in school,” said a woman. “It wasn’t the white children making fun of me, it was the other Black kids. It’s so sad and unfortunate but good for her for standing up.”
Another tweeted, “Whenever I wore my natural hair out, people constantly told me it was so big in an unkind way — I should have said thank you [to be honest]. My teacher kept criticizing my hair saying ‘the humidity gotcha today.’ I’m glad I never gave up on it tho and now I’m more than proud to be me.”
“I taught Trinity from a very young age that she was beautiful and to take pride in her heritage and culture,” Shaw told Atlanta Black Star. “She understands how her ancestors were treated and how Black girls/women’s beauty is underrepresented. She was taught to recite her affirmations of self-love, self-respect, and self-worth as young as 3.”
Such kind words uplifted the fifth-grader, whom Shaw said was thankful for the supportive comments.
https://twitter.com/Toshia_Shaw/status/960989605074894848
“This proves that there is a lot more love than hate in this world, Mommy,” Shaw recalled Trinity telling her.
Yet this isn’t new for Trinity, Shaw has been instilling messages of self-love in her daughter for years, she tweeted a 2015 video.
“Because I’m pretty and I’m a version of you and since you love yourself, you love me and I love myself,” Trinity says in the clip.
https://twitter.com/Toshia_Shaw/status/961321214475038720
“Trinity and I hope that by her standing up and speaking up for herself it will inspire other young ladies to do the same,” Shaw said. “To tell a trusted adult when being bullied. To love yourself no matter what school you go to. Never let anyone steal your joy or you Black Girl Magic.”
