First World Problems

"You are one of the white people sweetie"/"No. I am Not."

That "No. I am Not" comes from the recording artist Halsey (née Ashley Nicolette Frangipane), who came up for widespread criticism/mockery last week when she tweeted, "I’ve been traveling for years now and it’s been so frustrating that the hotel toiletry industry entirely alienates people of color. I can’t use this perfumed watered down white people shampoo. Neither can 50% of ur customers. Annoying."

Looking at pictures of Halsey, you might assume she's white. (The previous post is about a performer who is white, but is mistakenly seen as black.) But Halsey has a black father and a white mother and identifies herself as black, WaPo reports.

I think she needs to take a DNA test.

“I’m white-passing. I’ve accepted that about myself and have never tried to control anything about black culture that’s not mine,” Halsey said in August 2017 to Playboy. “I look like a white girl, but I don’t feel like one. I’m a black woman.”

Now, some people think the shampoo question is trivial, whether it's raised by a black person or a white person, but the complaint seems different if you think someone is raising it on behalf of other people who are not talking about it themselves.... doesn't it?

As to whether the hotel shampoo problem is trivial, here are some more Halsey tweets:

The point is that mass production of those products as the standard is part of a greater problem of disenfranchisement. If white ppl can enjoy the luxury/convenience, there should be an option for everyone to. Its an “insignificant” example of a bigger problem. That’s all!...

When u make white products the standard, it makes white the “normal”. I was only trying to provoke some thought about the way these things impact our perception. That’s all....

It’s not just hotels. I stayed in a psychiatric hospital as a teenager and they didn’t have hair products for any patients who were POC. It’s hard enough being in there as it is, but then ur gonna too feel ugly and dry n frizzy too? Nah. Anyways. Y’all still missing the point lol....

It’s about being made to feel unincluded. Which is, obviously, a far greater problem than shampoo. I never wanna talk about soap ever again lol.

Bring your own damn shampoo, like most people do.



Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Crash Test Girl" up and running at The Other McCain.