(ThyBlackMan.com) I spent a quiet Fourth of July weekend relaxing, reading and watching a few of my favorite movies, just soaking in the idea of independence…freedom. I had already decided earlier in the week I would give my keyboard a break from my writing. I desired the comforts of Southern cuisine on Sunday, so I went to a regional home-style chain restaurant to pick up my craving.
While there, I had the pleasure of speaking with a young lady serving me with my to-go order. She created small talk by inquiring about my happenings on Independence Day. So, I indulged and shared that I read, relaxed and watched movies, just enjoying my time. She shared that she and her family spent the holiday outside of the city limits, in the country, setting off fireworks at her grandparents place. I encountered a brief flashback to my childhood, and shared with her the memories of spending the 4th in the country igniting fireworks.
Our conversation then somehow shifted to her employment. The young sister shared with me that she also held a job as a waitress in a regional chain Cajun seafood restaurant which shared the same shopping center. She stated she was asked to clock out prior to her shift ending that day. I asked why, she offered a two-fold response to justify the request. She first told me she had planned to leave early from the Cajun restaurant to make her shift at the home-style restaurant. Then she shared that a manager pulled her aside and 
spoke with her about her hair. In shock, I asked why? Because all I encountered when I gazed upon her head was healthy, thick, beautiful hair. She said the shift manager told her, her hair was, “unruly…that it looked as if she just got out of bed”. I asked her, how did she respond to his comment? She said she tried to explain she wears a natural and chose not to straighten her hair that day.
I asked how she felt about his comment. She stated she expected it because her parents have already schooled her on having to deal with issues of this nature. She said she only has less than a month to deal with the nonsense of the restaurant before she goes to college. She stressed the influence of her parents instilling in her to get an education so she won’t have to deal with such nonsense.
I explained to the young sister that, indeed, her parents were correct in stressing the importance of education, and I agree with them wholeheartedly. However, I had to take the opportunity to educate the sister a bit more.
Yes, education is imperative in creating more opportunities for her future. But, let’s not get it twisted. I offered her the leader of the free world; the highly intelligent, elected Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States of America; a Black man who still deals with the evils of racism. She agreed. So I explained, although, education is needed, it does not keep you from being discriminated against.
I then offered the argument of her African-American coworkers, and those who may come behind her; and those who don’t have the same opportunity as her to use college as an escape mechanism. What about the sister who’s only option at the moment is to serve patrons at that establishment, and others like it, and finds herself having to make a choice of either
1) to leave that job which she is qualified for
or
2) having to alter how the Father made her to fit into a certain mold created for her? The young sister understood my point.
I then shared with her I am a community activist and writer and I would like to bring her story to the forefront. She gave me permission to do so. I thanked her and asked that she remember when she goes off to college in a month, she would think about our discussion and remember we are still in a struggle for freedom until every American citizen can be free.
On my drive home, I pondered over the conversation with the young sister. My thoughts led me to really think about independence. Yes, as a country we celebrate our independence as a free world. But, as individuals, will we ever be free? Especially, African-Americans, will we ever be free to be ourselves, or will we remain independently enslaved to conform to what we are told we can be?
As a people, will we continue to flex, extend and backward bend to fit into presupposed molds created for us? More importantly, will we continue to accept this cycle and miseducate our children to do the same?
Independence is freedom to be oneself. But, if we have to make a choice between employment and naturally being ourselves, then we aren’t really free. We are only independently enslaved.
Staff Writer; La Royce
One may read over more of this sister writings over at; http://laroyceblog2014.com.