"When the Opera Acts Like It's Never Seen a Black Person Before"

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--Q8zVl6ZB--/pz3hvapc2z9txcdu2kkh.jpg

"In the theater, a man taps my shoulder. "Excuse me, dear," he says, with that almost-extinct thick New York accent. "Can ya put yah hair up? My wife has to sit on her coat in order to see past all that. And then you know of course the people sitting behind my wife won't be able to see past my wife because she has to sit on the coat."

I feel woozy. A giant fat frog crawls in my throat, then jumps like lightning straight down to my bowels. I'm on a roller coaster with a drop so high it's illegal. I can't find the words to reply to him."

http://jezebel.com/when-the-opera-acts-like-its-never-seen-a-black-person-1680149691?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I can get really overly conscious about my hair - I have discovered that it is freakishly memorable, and just gets everywhere in a way that no one else's hair did when I was growing up. I have been lucky to mostly just encounter older white people who are really into complimenting my hair (sometimes seeming a little too proud of themselves for finding it attractive, tbh), but the specter of the people described in this essay is why I spend do much time and money on conditioner.