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Black Girl With Long Hair
Zoe Kravitz is the October cover girl for California-based C Magazine and she opened up about her career, family (she is the daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz and Cosby show legend Lisa Bonet) and identity. It’s a topic she’s been more vocal about lately. Kravitz has spoken before about her hesitance to identify with African American culture. She touches on this again in her feature.
“I think there was a point when I resisted being categorized,” she reflects. “I got past that and started to really dig deeper and learn more about my roots. I identify as everything, and am proud and connected to the rich history that I come from.”
The actress and singer also spoke about her braids, which have become somewhat of a signature look over the past year.
Her daily uniform is an urban-inspired study in black and white—revealing enough to show off some of her ink (including a cassette tape, a mermaid, an arrow and the words “Free at last,” an ode to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech). Her coiffure, these days, is lustrous, torso-grazing braids: “I originally did them as a joke, like an ode to the ’90s,” she says. “They aren’t some symbolic thing, but it still feels important, I think, to be a brown girl with natural hair. You see blond girls with the same hair in every movie.”
Check out the photos from the feature.
Ladies what are your thoughts?
18 Responses
Omg… is she beautful!!! She’s a very beautiful girl, that’s all that matters… black/white/brown who cares!? Why should someone be forced to accept a specific category? Black’s want her to be black, White’s want her to be white… why does this matter so much anyway? She is what she is…
I think mixed raced people, who have african ancestry believe that it is predominantly african people who want them to identify as black. In reality there is a much broader and intense history behind the reason why most biracial /multiracial black people identify as such. The one drop rule was created by Caucasians, it is not a black thing; back in the day you didn’t have any other choice, unless you could pass, and then have to strip yourself of your identity. Black people just had to accept all the biracial people into our community because there was no where else for them to go. Master wasn’t having them, they were slaves just like the darkest ones, even though they were the white man’s offspring, africans raised them. Most black people come from such histories, being black and multiracial in america is not a rare thing. Which is why calling ones self black is just a culturally blanketed moniker.
get over yourselves people. you don’t know how hard it is to be around black people when you’re not ‘typically’ black (think carlton banks)
I completely identify with Zoe. I’m a mixed (multiracial) woman and it irks me that 1) I’m forced into the label of “black” by both black and white people, but 2) am not accepted by black people as a “real” black person. Why do black people think it’s OK to disregard your non-black ancestry, but if you disregard your black ancestry, you’re some sort of sell out? I’m light skin with green eyes…and dreads and an African husband and children with traditional African names, but you will NEVER catch me disrespecting the other (equally important) parts of my culture.
go play with your white friends zoe, you clearly has chosen your people.. she just needs to stop talking… she is only black when it benefits her..
It must be nice to be able to “choose” to identify with African-American culture.
Well, honestly she IS African-American, therefore where’s the choice? It’s an ethnic group and there’s nothing wrong with it. Do we see Chinese Americans refusing to identify as Chinese? It’s okay to a Black African American.
My grand parents were mixed and Native American and my great-grand parents–one was white! I am brown, and African-American.
I’m glad she recognizes braids as a cultural reference. Some people have to learn or see for themselves why natural hair is beautiful. Zoe wasn’t ashamed of it she just did not understand at the time.
She is the joke. Fa real she bout to go Raven on us. She clearly got issues when it coes to race and she needs to face those demns on somebody’s couch and not in the media. I like the pics except the cover one. But she trippin.
Girl bye.
whatever zoe
I think she got it to be kind of ironic but then really felt it
Jesus i dont think i ever in my life seen someone who looks so much like there mother…shes like a Lisa clone …its so crazy to me every time i see her
I feel like I am re-surprised every time I remember that she’s Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet’s daughter because both of them look almost as young as she does! That’s a family that just oozes cool.
Her being so honest about her personal journey is pretty cool and I wonder how long it takes her to braid up her hair? I don’t think I have the patience to do mine like that lol
That whole family is dope!
I think she looks good,not really thinking about what she said about the braids. I remember Erykah Badu said something about her turban when she first came on the scene. She literally said ‘it’s not that deep.’ So…
I may look for that magazine though…
I don’t think that she really meant that she got the braids as a ‘joke.’ It was probably just a poor word choice. I think what she really meant is that she got them to be trendy and realized that it’s much more than that.
I really hope so.