Burna Hunt was minding her own business when I approached her in the grocery store. I was drawn by the teeny, weenie platinum blonde Afro.
“Do nappy black blondes have more fun?” I asked her pointedly.
Burna first gave me a funny look. Since I have earned a reputation as a purveyor of nappiness, I’ve grown accustomed to such looks. More than a few have wondered whether anyone is home inside my dome.
When Burna saw that I really wanted to know whether nappy blondes have more fun, she leaned over on her shopping cart and contemplated my question. Then she smiled and said, “Yes, we do.”
“Something comes with age,” she said. “I’m a little more confident about myself. I get a lot of compliments on it, and I enjoy it.”
Then I asked what I really wanted to know. I asked whether people felt she went blond to keep from being black.
She quickly set me straight.
Burna told me that she didn’t go blond to keep from being black. She went blond to keep from being gray! Not ready to sport the salt-and-pepper look, Burna bleached her hair, not her mind.
“I am pro black,” she said. “Anybody who knows me knows that I love nappy hair. That’s part of being black. I don’t think having blonde hair takes away from that at all.”
Spoken like a sister with a strong sense of self.
