You don't really look at a toothbrush and say, "I'm great!" But when you look at an Afro pick, which is a grooming tool, it can remind you in your subconscious to, like, really be proud and, like, "All right."
你不会看着牙刷说, “我超棒!” 但当你看着非洲式梳子 这种梳洗工具时, 它能在潜意识里提醒你, 要感到自豪,像是, ”不错。“
[Small thing.]
【小事物】
[Big idea.]
【大智慧】
An Afro pick is a utilitarian tool used to maintain the Afro hairstyle. I think the Afro pick was designed for the ergonomics of creating something that felt like you were running fingers through your hair. The shape, even the depth that it goes in -- it's like a hand. You have plastic or nylon teeth, and then you have the stainless steel or the nickel teeth. I always prefer the metal tooth just 'cause I like the sound and the ones I know have the black power fist on the handle.
非洲式梳子是一种实用的工具, 用来保持非洲式发型。 我认为非洲式梳子的设计 是为了在人体工程学上 符合用手指捋头发的感觉。 它的形状,甚至是梳头的 深浅度——都像是一只手。 梳齿有塑料的或尼龙的, 还有不锈钢或镍制的。 我一直偏爱金属的梳齿, 只是因为我喜欢它的声响, 而且我知道它们的手柄上 有象征黑人力量的拳头。
When I think of black hair in America, I think of something that's been policed. Back in the days, it was expected for black people to chemically treat their hair. Whether that's healthy for them is a secondary thing to blending in.
当我想到美国的黑人发型, 我想到的是它受到的监管。 在过去,大家都指望黑人 对他们的头发做化学处理。 融入社会比他们的健康更重要。
In the 50s, dancer Ruth Beckford and a lot of jazz singers were tired of straightening their hair, so they said, all right, we're going to just let it grow naturally and started rocking natural, close-cropped hair. And in the 60s, that style evolved with the formation of the Afro, which was the cropped hair, natural, picked out into a more spherical shape. You had civil rights leaders, activists, that adopted the hairstyle as a means of rebellion and black pride. And then you had musicians like James Brown, who was infamously known for chemically straightening his hair, reject that and go natural. It went hand-in-hand with his music, so he had songs like "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."
在上世纪 50 年代,舞者露丝·贝克福德 (Ruth Beckford)和许多爵士歌手 都厌倦了弄直头发, 于是他们说,好吧, 我们要让头发自然生长, 开始留起自然的、剪得很短的发型。 而到了 60 年代, 发型发生了改变, 形成了黑人卷发(Afro), 也就是把剪短过的天然头发梳出来, 做成更加球型的样式。 民权领袖、活动家都采用了这种发型, 代表黑人的骄傲和反抗的手段。 接着,像詹姆斯 · 布朗 (James Brown)这样的音乐家, 过去曾因用化学试剂 把头发弄直而备受恶评, 他摈弃了直发,走起了自然风格。 这与他的音乐相得益彰, 比如《大声叫,我是黑人我骄傲》 这样的歌曲。
The black is beautiful movement is just rejecting the notion that to be black or to have darker skin, to have a curlier grade of hair, was something to be ashamed of. I have one of my favorite pictures of my mother and my grandmother, and my grandmother had a small 'fro, and that was in the 60s.
“黑即美” 的社会运动 对抗的是认为 “黑皮肤、 深色皮肤和卷曲的头发 是令人羞耻的” 这种想法。 我有一张很喜欢的照片, 里面是我的妈妈和祖母, 我的祖母就有小黑卷, 而这是在 60 年代拍摄的。
African hair combs date back to 3500 BCE. The oldest African combs are found in ancient Egypt and Sudan, so they were making pyramids and combs. The way the ancient African combs were embellished represented status or tribal affiliation. It's no coincidence that the fist on the modern Afro pick also sets the tone for affiliation and what set you claim.
非洲式梳子可以 追溯到公元前 3500 年, 最早的非洲式梳子 出现在古埃及和苏丹, 也就是说他们在造金字塔和梳子。 古代的非洲式梳子上的装饰 象征着地位或所属部落。 现代的非洲式梳子上的拳头 也奠定了归属和诉求的基调, 这点并非巧合。
And then there's the Black Power movement. Most movements need their icons, right? You have the fist, you have the 'fro. These things coincide with the Black Panther aesthetic, where you could kind of spot your tribe from afar, because you're not just keeping a pick in, like, your beauty kit. It's in your back pocket, purposely with the first outside of it, and in your hair, you'll rock it in your 'fro.
接着,就有了 “黑人权力” 运动。 大多数运动都需要有标志物,对吧? 比如拳头,还有黑人发型。 这些东西很符合黑豹党的美学, 这样从很远的地方就能看到你的党派, 因为你不只是把梳子放在化妆包里, 它可以放进裤子后的口袋里, 故意把拳头标志露在外面, 也可以插在你的黑人卷发里。
If I think about iconic Afros, I definitely think about Angela Davis. Her 'fro personifies elegance, style, freedom, rebellion. You feel all of these feelings at once when you see Angela Davis fighting for her life in federal court.
如果让我去想象征性的黑人卷, 我肯定会想到安吉拉 · 戴维斯 (Angela Davis)。 她的黑人卷发象征着优雅、风格、 自由、反抗。 看到安吉拉·戴维斯 站在法庭上为她的生命而战时, 你能同时感受到这些情感。
By the 80s, the Afro style became less radical. The Afro picks are still produced to this day with the clenched fist, so it's the remnants of the movement in the everyday object.
到了 80 年代,非洲发型 变得不再那么激进。 时至今日,非洲式梳子上 仍有紧握的拳头, 这是当年的社会运动 在日常生活用品上残留的痕迹。
When I was young, it was just, like, another object. It was a comb. But as I became more enlightened to really understand the roots and the origin and the intentionality of the design and why the fist and all of these things ... I woke up.
小时候,我觉得它只不过是一件物品。 它就是把梳子。 但当我明白了更多事情, 真正了解了它的根源和起源、 它的设计意图、 为什么有拳头,所有这一切…… 我觉醒了。