Hours after President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Chris Rock sat talked about his Sundance entry, “Good Hair,” a hilarious examination of the cultural pressures that prod blacks into costly, often painful methods to care for their hair. Actress Nia Long talks candidly in the film about her own perms and weaves, but in the interview with Rock, she also speaks hopefully about how Obama, his wife and their two daughters can help blacks overcome the cultural inferiority complex that prompts them to change their hair.
“Just seeing that family photo and seeing the daughters with their hair in cornrows sometimes, it resonates for me in such a huge way,” Long said. “I just feel finally we have an image that’s the most powerful image in our country that actually is a part of who I am.”
Rock also reveled in Obama’s inauguration, but he joked about another hurdle still facing blacks.
“Excellent black people have always been compensated for excellence. Always,” Rock said. “The real equality is when we can have a black president as dumb as George Bush. That’s when we’re really equal. That’s when the dream has come true.”
