Despite some people claiming that we now live in a "post-racial" era, racism is alive and well in the form of institutional and systemic racism, microagressions, and cultural appropriation.

We're now in a time where black hair is being appropriated without recognition. Rita Ora, Katy Perry, Kendall Jenner, Cara Delevingne, and other celebrities have been pictured wearing cornrows as of late and many media outlets have called it a "new trend." To say this is to erase an entire culture and history of people who have long been ridiculed, stereotyped, and disrespected for wearing a hairstyle that has been part of black history since 3000 B.C.

This isn't like childhood when you wouldn't let someone else have something because you had it first; the appropriation of cornrows is a slap into the face to any black man or woman who has had to deal with the societal backlash that came along with wearing them.

In middle school, I hated the questions, snickers, and comments so much that I stopped wearing braids, even though anyone who came back from vacation with beads and braids was the center of attention for the week they had them. In fact, it was only eight years later, after repeatedly chemically straightening my hair as soon as it even remotely looked “kinky,” that I decided that I loved braids and went back to the hairstyle. In a society where a woman's beauty lies in the length and texture of her hair, black woman have been told that they aren't beautiful because their hair isn't. Thousands of employees all over North America, mostly in the United States, were fired because of unprofessional hairstyles like cornrows and dreadlocks. They were associated with gang activity, ghetto lifestyles, poverty, and a lack of intelligence.

Black hair has been regulated through legislation in the military, workplace, and education system but also through societal values and expectations. The emergence of the cornrow trend only serves as a reminder that something is new and fashionable when accessorized with fair skin and smooth hair.

Marie Claire and other fashion magazines have been culprits of the attempted rebranding of cornrows, but the L.A. Times were by far the worst culprit. The newspaper printed that “cornrows are moving away from urban, hip-hop to more edgy and chic” and also that “they have to be on the right person with the right clothing.” Braids were worn as a specific part of black style. Many people endured sitting between their mom, family member, or hairdresser's legs for hours, enduring pulling, twisting, combing, and the throbbing headache after being done, just so we could carry a bit of our history on our heads.

Black people seem to serve as a societal tool for finding new trends. Whether it is big butts, twerking, or hair, it always sends the message that nothing can be cool when associated with blackness. Pieces of our culture are taken, repurposed, and marketed as hot, edgy, and new. We are left out of the conversation about a trend that we have fought to feel proud of. Our hairstyles are cool enough to wear, but not quite cool enough to get the recognition or respect we deserve. For the mainstream, it's a fleeting trend, but to black people, it's a lifestyle.

Josh Parsons

Music Editor

Montreal’s shoegazey pop group Braids has had a busy year. Their 2011 release Native Speaker has been shortlisted for the Polaris Prize, reviewed in the New York Times and subsequently picked up by a slew of monolithic music media outlets.

Much of the attention is centered on Braids’ tasteful blend of post-rock experimentation with delicate and washy pop melodies, a sound they have fostered over the course of several years. Dedication and work seem to be paying dividends as Braids has spent much of the last year criss-crossing North America and Europe.

The members of the band first met in their high school cafeteria in Calgary. “We were just a bunch of teenagers wanting to make music with each other,” laughed Raphaelle Standell-Preston in an interview with ANDY. She is the band’s primary lyricist and de facto leader.

In 2008, Braids decided to relocate from Calgary to Montreal. Within months, they were creating an unavoidable buzz around themselves in Montreal’s competitive independent music scene. “In Montreal, we started a new life. That was really inspiring in itself.”

By summer 2009, Braids began laying the foundation for what was to become their breakthrough release, Native Speaker. The recording of the album was drawn out over several months, with equal attention being paid to mixing and mastering of the album.

“The fact that we had so much time allowed us to really figure out the recording software,” said Standell-Preston. “We were allowed to go really in-depth with our tones. We really had no time limit.”

Since the album’s release, rumors have been circulating that it had cost the band only $500 to produce. “It might have been a little bit less than that,” Standell-Preston admitted. “I guess with mixing and mastering it was about five hundred dollars. We didn’t have any money ourselves. It had to cost that much.”

Although the record has now achieved international success, Standell-Preston was quick to note that the arduous recording process wasn’t without setbacks. “There were times when I thought the album was crumbling. I was scared because I thought maybe we had lost some of the magic that we had playing live together.”

But she was also eager to speak of how the record had helped her to develop and refine the lyrical focus of her songs. “Native Speaker was a very literal, kind of point-in-fact record.” She continued, “At that time, I was discovering who I was and discovering my sexuality. Living life was really inspirational for me. It inspired the lyrics for that album.

“I had read a couple reviews of the record and they really ripped the lyrics to shreds,” she lamented. “Since then I’ve been growing more towards explain the beauties of life instead of the hardships. A different kind of attitude, the other stuff was very sassy”

With a change in direction in mind, I was interested as to when we could expect some new material. “We definitely want to write a new record. We have been writing a few new songs that will hopefully be on the album. We’re all really enjoying playing them live.”

Keep an ear to the ground for new Braids material dropping in 2012.