Barber Shop Not Exactly Comb One, Comb All

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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.   

 

Comments

[Andrew Liptak]

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.

[Lauren Ober]

Andrew, I totally agree. Dude definitely needs a lesson in business etiquette. Perhaps he's already learned it.

[Kerry]

"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!

[Jeff]

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?

[Jimmy]

"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.

[an Ober fan no more]

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.

[dale tillotson]

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).

[Billiebob]

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.

[giant]

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?

[Bungalow Benchly]

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.

[verplanck]

Bungalow,

It isn't even her opinion, it's her making up motives for the barber and then spinning a story out of that fantasy.

Lauren, I suggest your next Gawker-style puff/snark piece deal with something a bit less serious, like those stinkberries you love/hate so much.

[Nellie]

Cripes, where's Mr. "Holy Overreaction" now?

Read the Burlington Free Press story. From that you can't conclude that this was necessarily racism. Apparently, the barber in question is a curmudgeon, known for telling white people who want a haircut to go away if he's busy playing cards. It also quotes a black author on black hair as saying that it's true, white barbers can't cut black hair.

[diane]

I'm just about the whitest person I know — as far as skin color and hair type go, that is. I was born and raised in Vermont, but the last two times I've had my hair done, it was at Ethnic Elegance Salon on 125th Street in Harlem. The stylist, Monae Shepard, certainly didn't "muddle through giving me a halfway decent cut." She gave me two of the best haircuts I've ever had. Yes, probably 99.99% of her customers are of African-American decent, and she probably hasn't had the most experience working with my kind of hair (Do I know that for sure? Absolutely not.) But did she turn me away? No. Because she is a professional. And, unlike Mr. Aldrich, she's not a moron.

[bigtime]

I hope this barber didn't vote for dubie, claiming the VT economy is dead and we need more business here. Total tool. It's 2010 bro, get with the program.

[Haik Bedrosian]

"See, Aldrich, like 99.9 percent of white hair stylists, doesn't know how to cut black hair."

What kind of haircut would a 57 year old physician be getting that would be so difficult for a barber with 40 years experience to render? It seems pretty clear to me why Mr. Aldrich denied service to Dr. Fisher.

This post is a liability for Seven Days.

[Burlington Reader]

I am disappointed by the blogging that Seven Days is publishing as journalism recently. Unfortunately, Lauren Ober seems to be the assigned / encouraged author of much of this content. I find these blog entries to be mostly poorly researched and conversational to the point of fluffiness. Most of the time when I read an article by Ober, I actually realize after the first paragraph that I have already wasted my time. I have never felt this way reading articles by Ken Picard, Andy Bromage, or past 7D writer Mike Ives. I miss the intelligent writing I have come to expect from 7D, and the informative presentation of useful research. I wish that the editors would help and encourage Ms. Ober to become a better writer and researcher of stories, and stop assigning or accepting these insultingly trivial and misinformed meanderings of hers.

[Amazed At This Post]

Honestly - Who cares if he is a racist? Why is it so outrageous to think that someone "with 40 years of experience" is racist?

I hear there are plenty of people in salon industry who don't care whose hair they fuck up, mangle, ruin, or make wonderfully beautiful.

If he had a problem with this guy, punch him in the face and walk out, or just realize that some people are the way they are and move on.

Either way, WHO CARES?! He's old. He's a barber. He isn't exactly Vermont's Chair on Ethnic Affairs (hah!).

This is a big boo-hoo story. I'm not racist, I have 0 days of barbershop experience, I'd be happy to plug in my set of clippers for you - Thou, I promise no fades.

[odum]

Shockingly enough, someone who actually lives in Bellows Falls and took part in the public action takes issue with this post:

http://greenmountaindaily.com/diary/7119/snarky-informed-and-witty-i-respect-ignorant-petty-and-patronizing-not-so-much-so

[Matthew Cunningham-Cook]

Well, Vermont may have a reputation for knee-jerk pcness, but it also has a reputation for white liberal racism.

" And maybe it's just as well for Fisher. I'm sure he didn't want some whitey brush cut, anyway. "

Wowwwww.

Good job keeping up that tradition, Lauren!

Hands down this is the shoddiest piece of "journalism" I've seen come out of this newspaper.

[Jason Farrell]

With this post it appears Seven Days has discovered their own, in-house "Ed Shamy".

[Bungalow Benchly]

To the editors of Seven Days: at what point do you stop backing one of your employees and start admitting that maybe you've got an irresponsible and lazy writer on your hands? Or do you base your employment decisions solely on how many people comment on a piece?

[Sam]

This is such a missed opportunity. We could be having an open dialog about racism, but instead we're talking about the quality of reporting in 7 Days. Some topics shouldn't be given the treatment this was. There's a time, a place and a subject matter for the fluffy/snarky/pseudo-opinion, whatever-you-want-to-call-it pieces. I would encourage everyone to talk to someone they know about this incident. What do you think about it? Just remember stick with the facts, we can't KNOW if this guy is racist. Just discuss what happened. Here's a good video about talking about racism too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc&feature=fvw

[odum]

@Sam: We don't dialog about race in Vermont. Bring it up and you're either shut down (a la Ms. Ober above) or ignored completely.

See, this is Vermont. We're post-racial. Anybody who suggests otherwise breaks the Vermont mythology, and NO ONE breaks the Vermont mythology.

That's the whitest state in the union for ya.

[yoursoguilty]

MEMO

To: Dept. of Vermont Guilty Liberal White Baby Boomer Self-Flagellation:

Um . . . now that we've pilloried and crucified ourselves and the author of this post, for the sin of being born privileged, white, liberal, and guilty, . . . um . . . maybe this was not a racist event in the first place?

Oh, nevermind. Of course it was.

[odum]

"Baby boomer?!?!" I BEG your pardon. Them's fightin' words.

[Katherine]

@Yoursoguilty

Yeah, except that.... if you read the article on the Reformer or GMD, it's pretty clear that the barber actually was a racist. He's quoted as saying, "What does he have to go stirring this up for?" he said, adding that he believes black people are more racist than white people."

Yeah, that's pretty effing racist.

[Introvert]

We're all racist. Its confronting that internal racism that needs to happen more often and with public dialog. This piece is laughable, and only continues the excuse making and uncomfortable laughs when racism confronts us.

[Stacy]

As a former hairstylist myself I beg to differ from the folks suggesting that getting one's hair done by a member of a different race is a non issue. Their experiences likely point to the exceptions, not the rule. There are, as the post points out, entirely different lines of products, tools, techniques and styles. Salons are usually pretty segregated, and not just in little towns either so this isn't something the author pulled out of her butt. Should we all be equally trained and competent doing any head that comes in the door? Sure. But in reality, with most training and experience coming within the confines of one's own race it can and does present a challenge sometimes. From my own experience as a white person I can only say I'm incredibly grateful for the graciousness, kindness and patience of my first black client who literally had to guide me through doing her hair. And for my black colleague who admirably sought out willing white clients to branch/break out of the whole segregated hair business-well, it wasn't always a picnic for him either but kudos to him for trying. I don't think it was racist for either one of us to be so unfamiliar with each other's hair and that was in a much bigger city. It's hardly surprising to me that a white barber from Bellows Falls wouldn't be familiar with cutting black hair. Whether the barber is actually a racist is an entirely different matter.

[Concerned Citizen]

Who is this silly chic writing for SEVEN DAYS? Saying "the barber isn't here" when he was the owner/barber is a clear snub, mistreatment of a customer, and VERY similar to segregationists tactics of the old south. In the 70's, AFTER integration, my mother was told that there was "lots of room" to register children at the neighborhood catholic school over the phone. Once she arrived, the same day, she was turned away because her 'white-sounding voice' didn't match her race on the registration forms. Suddenly, there was NO MORE ROOM to register her children.

And Miss Writer Lady, don't think we couldn't catch the condescending tone you used to describe your feelings about the hair sheen in your dorm room, your slippery telephone, and the amount of time and care it takes to deal with the "complexity" of black hair. Not to mention your deep concern for the loss of hair due to chemical treatments, and the 'thorny this,' and the 'cultural that.' Your mouth full of fluffy quips and unbaked commentary has done nothing but show how ill-equipped you are at discussing something as COMPLEX as RACE. Get to organizing the 'I Spy' section next time, and leave the bigger discussions to the bigger dogs.

[Concerned Citizen]

not to mention, do we really need to be divided over these tiny matters like hair, in the bigger picture? Let's blend, people. Let's blend.

[Concerned Citizen]

and you must have known that your black roommate from college wasn't going to ever read your blog, cause her AND her mamma would have had to drive 3 hours to come and set your silliness straight!!!! ask for the I Spy, next time, the I Spy.

[surprised and disappointed]

"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."

WTF??!?! How on earth does that (completely unfounded) assumption make a lot more sense than the alternative? Someone reading this article without a critical eye would be easily mislead by the way Ober chose to present the information.

This post is honestly just mind-boggling. It reads like a bizarre propaganda piece that aims to erase any possibility that Vermonters could ever be racist. And I agree with the other posts--how does Seven Days let this stuff get published? I would like to believe that not all Seven Days staffers feel similarly to Ober, but if that is the case, they need to realize that everything that gets published on this blog or in the paper is a reflection on the paper as a whole.

It's not a good look for you, Seven Days.

[Cathy Resmer]

Hi all. Seven Days web editor Cathy Resmer here. I'm one of the editors responsible for this blog.

I'm making a packaging change, based on peoples' reaction to this post. From now on, when one of our writers contributes a blog post that is clearly filled with commentary, rather than original reporting, we'll categorize it as "opinion."

In the future, we'll create more visible headers that clearly state whether a post is "news," "politics," "books," "food," or "opinion," etc. -- rather than relying solely on the categories listed beneath the posts -- so that readers are less confused about the content they're viewing.

I think everyone here thought it was clear that Lauren's post was an opinionated take on an event. Obviously, we were wrong! Some people seem to have been confused about what they were reading -- or maybe disappointed, because they expected reporting rather than commentary from her post. We provide both on this blog, on our website and in our newspaper. This new categorization scheme is an attempt to be clearer about which is which.

Someone pointed out above that this post was categorized under "weird stuff." I'm responsible for creating that category -- I'm the one who designed the (organically evolving) categorization scheme for this blog.

We chose to categorize this post that way because, until now, that was the catch-all place to put posts about unusual news events. Often, the "weird stuff" posts do not contain original reporting, as this post clearly did not. The categorization was not meant as a comment on the subject matter. Now that I've created the "opinion" category, I've removed the "weird stuff" tag from this post. Sorry for any unintended offense that caused.

You can find the kind of "header" tag I have in mind for our posts on the Stranger's Slog blog, which was the inspiration for Blurt. At the beginning of the title of each post, there's a little one-word header that acts as a visual sign-post, letting people know at a glance what it is they're reading.

Hopefully that will help alleviate any confusion around posts like these.

Look for that change soon, and thanks for reading.

[one_vermonter]

Cathy,

I think that everyone understands that this is an opinion piece.

Most of the objection seems to stem from the cavalier, snarky and condescending tone that Olber uses to address a serious subject.

Of course, her argument that anyone who disagrees with her is "uber-PC" and ignorant of the subject matter didn't win her any points either -- especially since it's so obvious that Olber is ignorant of some pretty basic facts of the situation (like the barber's frequent use of word "negro" and his blaming racism on black people).

Her opinion isn't the problem. The problem is her offensive attitude towards practically everything and everyone that she writes about & her tendency to insult her audience directly ("Oh, you gotta love Vermont and its knee-jerk PCness.")

A lot of us have come to expect a higher standard of writing and thought from Seven Days. Olber consistently drags that standard down.

-OV

[Julie Waters]

Cathy-- two issues:

(1) I'm aware that this is an opinion piece. My primary concern with this piece is that it makes claims of fact which are demonstrably false. My secondary concern is that it's condescending and patronizing.

(2) Your response echoes its condescension and patronization. Instead of treating concerns that people have with the piece and its tone with any sort of seriousness, you basically accuse people of having misunderstood it and act like they're morons enough to require an "opinion" tag on pieces that are opinions. Not all opinions are equal and not all opinions are based on logic and evidence. This piece wasn't just an absurd opinion. It's based on misrepresentations or misunderstandings. To be clear: I don't know if the writer wrote this piece with malicious intent or out of sheer ignorance, but it seems very clear that it was either one, the other, or both.

[yoursoguilty]

Ober is ENTIRELY CORRECT: "Oh, you gotta love Vermont and its knee-jerk PCness."

[jimmy for office]

Oh, for the love of pete...the barber is an old-timer living in the not-so-booming-metropolis of bellows falls. give it a rest. yes, forms of racism exist...in many, many communities across our country. What the heck are we going to do about it? You can't change the older crew, you just have to focus on building a strong foundation with the younger generations.

And yeah, Lauren writes snarky blogs - that's her thing. If you don't like it, why do you choose to read it?

Tell me, is a high-horse or a soapbox a better investment? Seems like y'all have already chosen...anyone care to opine?

[yoursogulity]

"Ober is ENTIRELY CORRECT: "Oh, you gotta love Vermont and its knee-jerk PCness.""

Oh, but wait. Lauren, I thought *you* were PC?

[verplanck]

Cathy,

I have to agree with OV and Julie. We aren't complaining that this isn't a 'hard news' piece. We're complaining because, even as a opinion piece, this offers no redeeming insight into the event that occurred. She makes up a motive to assign to the barber and then crafts an elaborate explanation based on that imaginary motive. There are plenty of lessons to draw from this event, and the ways of crafting an opinion piece based on it are also numerous. Lauren decided to place style over substance and offered a fluff piece that does nothing to advance the conversation.

7 Days publishes fine pieces of hard news and commentary. Lauren's article did not rise to that high standard.

[Corinna Jordan]

I think the barber should have let the customer decide if he wanted him to cut his hair. A public business is supposed to be open to everyone.