Poor Mike Aldrich. After turning away a black patron from his barber shop, saying he wouldn’t be able to help the guy because he wasn’t good at doing black hair, the Bellows Falls barber has become the target of some substantial community ire. The Associated Press reported that Aldrich’s refusal to barber the patron — Dr. Darryl Fisher, of Taos, N.M. — sparked a demonstration by people who claimed his denial of service was racially motivated.
Oh, you gotta love Vermont and its knee-jerk PCness. Well done, white people, for making a fuss about something you know nothing about — black hair.
It is entirely possible that Aldrich is, in fact, a racist who didn’t want to cut Fisher’s hair because he doesn’t like people of color. If that’s the case, I best not be defending the guy. But let’s assume for the sake of argument that Aldrich is a stand-up guy who loves all people regardless of color, creed, political persuasion or sexual proclivity. Then this story makes a lot more sense.
When Fisher walked into Mike’s Barber Shop, he asked Aldrich if a barber was around to cut his coif. Aldrich, the barber who owns the shop, told Fisher the barber wasn’t in. A few hours later, Fisher walked by the shop and saw Aldrich cutting hair. Clearly, dude was a barber. And clearly, he’s also a bad fibber.
But, as Aldrich told the AP, he was simply trying to mitigate embarrassment for both men. See, Aldrich, like 99.9 percent of white hair stylists, doesn’t know how to cut black hair. That’s understandable, since he lives in Bellows Falls, a town of 3000 white people and 11 black people. If you’re the aggrieved patron, Fisher, why would you want someone to cut your hair who doesn’t understand the complexity of your tresses?
When I was in college, one of my roommates was black. Her hair was important to her and, as such, she spent almost as much time on her ‘do as she did on her schoolwork. Our room was full of products that I had never seen in my local Rite Aid — oils, lotions and home relaxers that made our tiny cell of a room smell like the set of Queen Latifah’s Barbershop franchise knockoff, Beauty Shop. Occasionally my roommate’s mother would drive three hours from her home to set up a mini salon on our room. When she left, everything in the room was covered in a fine layer of spray sheen. I couldn’t talk on the phone without the handset slipping from my grip.
If I ever suggested to my roommate that she save her mother the trip and just get her hair done at my salon, she would have looked at me like I had horns, a tail and cloven feet. White people don’t know black hair, she would have said to me. And she’d be right. We don’t.
Similarly, if my roommate suggested that I get my locks lopped at a black salon, I would most likely have balked. It’s not to say that the hair dresser wouldn’t have been able to muddle through and give me a halfway decent cut. But, honestly, I want to get my hair cut by someone who has experience cutting hair like mine — you know, a messy red mullet. If you want to get a wedding dress made, your first stop is not going to be a tailor who makes bespoke suits, right?
The “ethnic hair” industrial complex is a $9 billion business. There are products for silky hair and products for natural hair and products to give you more hair (in the event that you lose some from all the chemical treatment). There are weaves and perms and and braids and locks. Oh, my. Thorny cultural and aesthetic issues aside, clearly this is a specialized industry where some expertise is needed.
So, assuming Aldrich is an upstanding human, it sort of makes sense that he would plead ignorance regarding black hair. And maybe it’s just as well for Fisher. I’m sure he didn’t want some whitey brush cut, anyway.
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2010.
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Lauren, I know you’re trying to be witty and fresh and quirky and that’s great, but your writing is so lazy that you come off as ignorant. One small example: your lead sentence is misleading; it implies the barber told the patron he wasn’t qualified to cut a black person’s hair. That conversation never happened and yet you opened with it. I know this isn’t a news piece but rather one of your “It’s my opinion, so I can write whatever the hell I want” pieces, but still, the lack of depth to your piece compared to the Brattleboro Reformer story was cringe-inducing. If you had just taken a moment to interview some of the folks involved in this story or to piggyback on the efforts of the Reformer journalist, rather than focus your energy on finding a way to spin this story to your favor, we all would have been better off for it.
Bad story with bad writing. Ober comes off as a nit wit. The barber comes off as a liar and perhaps a racist. How about promoting businesses in the area and supporting our economy, instead of cutting it down every chance you get? Does 7days know we’re in a recession right now?
I have been in a similar situation such as this. Everyone that makes light of this has obviously never had it happen to them. Put yourself in Dr. Fishers shoes or anyone of color that has had this happen to them. You can’t honestly say there was nothing racist about it! The first time you are denied service or treated unfairly beacause of the color of your skin you get a much better understanding of how things work. I live in a town of approx. 2000. and 8 of us are black. I admire Dr. Fisher for coming foward with what happened. If I or someone of color did that in my town there would be problems for sure. Don’t kid yourself there are still a lot of bigots out there and, they want you to make light of this situation and call it a misunderstanding.
Appears on the surface the barber needs a reminder of how to treat customers. Being honest is helpful, but he seems to have destroyed that part of the equation. Had the barber had told the customer, and explained the reason(providing the reason was as he later stated) the customer than could of made his own decision on going under the scissors. It appears that decision was taken away by the barber.So with that said when Pres. Obama returns it is now time for the checkers summit.Had the Dr. asked if he could have the next game of checkers and was refused then we might know better of the attitudes of the shop.Speaking of Pres. Obama, my god , who did the first ladies latest hairjob? Gracious me, and Hillary Clinton got beat on for her hair(still is).
Yeah. Business etiquette. Racism? That’s just “knee-jerk PC-ness.” Sure sounds to me like you’re an expert in the “knee jerk” business, Lauren. The possibility of racism isn’t even woth considering, but a chance to look uber-cool and superior? You’re right there with that.Here’s a little more to the story from http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_16552050. I assume you didn’t get this far because you made up your mind from the headline:”Over the course of an hour or so, as he cuts one man’s hair, then sits down to eat a muffin as he talks, he doesn’t hesitate to use the word “Negro” more than once.He also seems angry that Fisher spoke out about what happened.”What does he have to go stirring this up for?” he said, adding that he believes black people are more racist than white people.”There are so many people like you running around who seem to become incensed at the idea that any of their beloved fellow Vermonters can be racists. It just goes too much against your image of quaint and liberal Vermont. As long as you respond to these stories by angrily dismissing any person (black or white) who objects as “knee-jerk PC”, you’re as much a part of the problem in this country as any of the dittoheads or Glenn Beck groupies. It’s a real shame that there’s likely no way of getting you to understand this. From what I’ve read here, you seem way too impressed with yourself.
“If the matter simply were that he had no idea how to do Fisher’s hair, he could’ve just said that.”Yeah, and Fisher could’ve claimed that he was running a “whites only” barber shop. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I have to agree with Andrew 100% on this. It’s not at all an issue for me that Mike didn’t think he would do a good job cutting the Dr.’s hair. But then why not just come out and say that? Why go to the trouble of lying and telling the guy that the barber wasn’t in?
“Poor Mike Aldrich.” Are you kidding me? How about “Poor Dr. Fisher,” for he is the one who was subjected to the bigoted treatment of this barbershop owner. To reduce Aldrich’s actions down to poor business etiquette is laughable. If the matter simply were that he had no idea how to do Fisher’s hair, he could’ve just said that. His underhanded way of handling the situation, therefore, points to bigotry. While we’re on the subject of etiquette, I think you’re lacking in the stuff, too, Ms. Ober. By reducing this story down to a quaint, yet condescending take on the black hair experience, you show your narrow-minded prejudices. By tossing in the personal antidote about your black college roommate – the whole “I knew a black person once, so I’m qualified to talk about this” trick – suggests something else: that you and Aldrich are probably two peas in a pod. The fact that you file this story under “Weird Stuff” – as if black hair and the concept of a white person doing a black person’s hair is so weird, just because you don’t understand it – is something I take personal offense to as an African American woman.Finally, I am happy to report that I get my natural hair cut by a beautiful woman named Heather, who just happens to be white. She is fantastic at what she does and, thankfully, she does not make me feel like a second-class citizen because my hair happens to be of a different texture from her own. Thank God for people like Heather, who offset the ignorance and bigotry of the likes of you and Aldrich!
Andrew, I totally agree. Dude definitely needs a lesson in business etiquette. Perhaps he’s already learned it.
That could very well be true, but I think that had he been upfront about it from the start, he would have avoided this mess. I find this explanation plausible. It’s the execution of how such actions that are carried out that really matters though.