Razas

This post won't be what I want to be, but at least I am writing something.

A few weeks ago I was reading in a cafe here in Denver as the sun set in front of me and behind the mountains. My hair kept falling in my face. While still reading, I pulled my hair into a braid without thinking. I could tell a little baby girl behind me was watching me because I heard her father say Mira la raza, or, Look at her braid. I loved being a part of that moment for so many reasons and I keep playing it over in my mind.

Braids always remind me of the time I have spent living in the Andes. All of our girls, the mothers of our girls, and the professors at their schools wore braids. I often braided my own hair, but if I didn't the girls would do it for me, teaching me new patterns. In a place where I often stood apart, I loved that from behind I would blend in with everyone else: a thick, dark braid hanging down by back, wisps falling out in the wind. The moment here in Denver seemed even more connected to the Andes because I was watching the sun set over the Rockies, which are essentially the same mountains, just further along the fault.

It amazes me that this perfectly simple and practical, yet undeniably beautiful, thing can stand for femininity across cultures and time. How is it that all women and girls around the world just innately know how to braid their hair? Is it in the same category of universals as innate language, emotions, or grammatical syntax? Do men know how to do it? Of course there are so many ways to braid -- Americans braid with the weave coming in toward the center, Andeans braid with the weave coming out of the center, a heart-braid, a french braid, a four-strand braid. I can't help but feel an unspoken connection to another women I see wearing a braid because I know that we both stood that morning with our arms bent behind us, mindlessly twisting our hair into this raza.

I also love the symbolism of the word in Spanish. Raza. The word raza means both braid and race. To me that shows the concept that races should mix and feel comfortable intertwining, like a braid. The three strands of a braid are each interconnected and truly need the other strands in order to stay in place. Maybe I am too optimistic, but I like to think that interracial mixing could be as simple and natural as weaving a braid.