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Mind your language

The tangled story of dreadlocks, from Milton to YouTube

Of course the wearing of dreadlocks has a meaning, even if few can agree on it

9 April 2016

9:00 AM

9 April 2016

9:00 AM

‘Why are you filming this?’

‘For everyone’s safety.’

Those are the last words in a 46-second video that was watched by more than three million people on YouTube last week. The question was asked of the unseen cameraman by a black woman who had been haranguing a white youth at San Francisco State University for wearing dreadlocks (or the best he could manage with his weedy hair).

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