Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future by Brandi Collins-Dexter

Author:Brandi Collins-Dexter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Celadon Books

I Did a Lot of Shit Just to Live This Here Lifestyle

Oakland is one of the major hubs of streetwear fashion in the United States, and perhaps because of this, Kamilah grew up really into streetwear. As an adult, she wanted to make apparel that catered to women. So, in addition to designing and printing her own products, she began working at a local printshop to learn the business.

As Kam recounts, the printshop owner’s health started failing, and though it wasn’t the transition he’d hoped for, he knew he would have to step back from the business’s day-to-day management soon. In previous conversations, he had told Kam that he wanted to give the business to her, his top and most loyal employee. And so, Kam expected he would start making moves toward transitioning the business to her. But when the time came, he brought in someone new, who he called a family friend, someone who had never been involved with the business but who the owner now said he wanted to take over the shop.

Kam was, in her words, dumbfounded. He had been telling her for years that he was going to give her the business, but when the time came, he told her point blank that he felt more comfortable with someone that was “like him.”

When he said, “He’s just like me,” he didn’t mean they had similar business styles because Kam’s business style was like his; her work ethic was strong, and her commitment was strong. When he said, “Like him,” he meant someone who was physically from the same community as he was. Hearing those words was life-changing for Kam. She realized she had spent years building someone else’s business for someone else’s community, and now she had little to show for it. She had given her all to something that could never belong to her.

Kam left the printshop and went to work under a woman who designed apparel and women’s sports uniforms, but she knew there was a shelf life for this job, too. She had to do this shit herself.

September 11, 2015—I’ll never forget that day. That was the last day I got a paycheck in my hand from a full-time job from someone else.

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