According to Greek mythology, according to Wikipedia, Medusa was a ‘monster’; she is generally described as a winged human female with venomous snakes in place of hair. Gazers upon her ‘hideous’ face would turn to stone. However, it is less known that Medusa was a master carver, engraving her existence in bone forever. Anything else said about her is a rumour and a violent appropriation. In fact, it must be difficult not to sprout a head of snakes in a society that constantly hisses at you.

— Tayi Tibble, from "Poūkahangatus: An Essay About Indigenous Hair Dos and Don’ts," Poūkahangatus

In a hotel room, a man runs his hands through your hair like a surveyor. He is surprised when he asks you if it’s dyed. Groans when he tells you that he has never seen hair that black before. But what he really means is skin, what he really means is you’ve been a bad bad girl, what he really means is I don’t typically fuck with minority races but I still want to fuck you. He touches you in a place that makes you wish your hair was a crown of snakes, but it’s not enough to make you leave. Your mouth is a perpetual O that looks like a yes please and never a no. Representation is important.

— Tayi Tibble, from "Poūkahangatus: An Essay About Indigenous Hair Dos and Don’ts," Poūkahangatus

In 1995 I was born and Walt Disney’s Animated Classic Pocahontas was released. Have you ever heard a wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Mum has. I howled when my mother told me Pocahontas was real but went with John Smith to England and got a disease and died. Representation is important.

— Tayi Tibble, from "Poūkahangatus: An Essay About Indigenous Hair Dos and Don’ts," Poūkahangatus