The story behind the chains, the mohawk, the earrings

I had never grasped the full significance of Mr. T's jewelry until he took it all off at the dinner after the interview and I felt, well, dirty. He doesn't sport 40 pounds of gold and diamond chains, charms, wrist and ankle bracelets every day just to impress Crimson reporters, adoring fans, or even Crimson reporters who are adoring fans. Mr. T has some explanation for everything he wears. For instance, he eats his meals with the huge gold eating utensils around his neck (he takes his drink from a gold and diamond goblet, the idea for which he got "from the Pope"), and he uses the diamond and gold Rolex he bought for $8,000 cash at a Federal Marshal's auction to keep the time (although the date does not seem to work). To settle all the rumors about the reasons for his appearance that have undoubtedly floated around the campus community over the past decade, here is the truth in the words of Mr. T himself. djs

My message for the gold is much different from the other guys' message, and I think that's sort of important so right now we gonna break it down why I wear the jewelry, why I wear the earrings and all that. And the hairstyle, I'm gonna bring that to you.

All right, let's start with the hairstyle. People say, Oh Mr. T is about that hairstyle, why you get that hairstyle, is that punk rock, is that Mohican, are you a Mohawk? No, when they say that, I'm honored, because I'm proud to be along with the Mohican Indians and all that, but there's a tribe in Africa, the country of Mali, that wear their hair this way, they're called the Mandinke warriors. I trace it through the National Geographic Magazine, so you know they don't tell no lie. That wasn't in People magazine, be better than your People magazine, but so the hairstyle like I said is a Mandinke, they wear it this way.

The earrings, why I wear earrings. I wear seven earrings. I wear three in my right ear. The three is symbolic of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, the three wise men, the three Hebrew boys--Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego--the three parts of the day, morning, noon, and night, the three days Jesus was in the tomb, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the three graces, Faith, Hope, and Love, the three motions, slow motion, moderate motion and fast motion, water comes in three forms, you let it stay like it is, it's a liquid, if you slow the molecules down, it becomes ice. Speed the molecules up, becomes steam. Notice that I'm talking about molecules, letting people know that I'm a little smart, science you know haha, I'm not one of those rumnum brothers uhruhuhruhuhruh I can lift 400 pounds, let you know my wide range of things you know, and uh the inscription written on Jesus's head when he died was written in three languages, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, it said here lies the king of the Jews, Jesus was on the cross six hours, three hours in the day, three hours at night...The three is also for the Civil Rights workers. There are so many threes. Some might say three stooges or three musketeers, but that ain't nothing you know me, but three also stands for the three Civil Rights workers: Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. A black, a Jew, and a white. The guys that got murdered in '63, you know with the movie about Mississippi Burning and all that, you know.

Now we switch to the left ear. Left ear, I wear four earrings. The four is symbolic of the four seasons, spring, winter, summer and fall, the four directions, north, east, south and west, the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Then you put the three and four together, it's seven. It's seven times that Joshua marched around the walls of Jericho, Samson had seven locks of hair, like seven braids, like seven dreadlocks, there's seven notes in a musical bar, there's seven colors in the rainbow, God made heaven and earth in six days, he rested on the seventh, I am the seventh son.

The reason why I wear gold: I wear gold for three reasons. One, when Jesus was born, three wise men came from the east, one brought frankenscence, one brought myrrh, the other one brought gold. The second reason I wear gold is I can afford it. The third reason I wear it, it's symbolic of my African heritage. When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists and our ankles in steel chains. I've turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I'm still a slave, only my price tag is higher.