My Hair Is My CROWN - Not An Indictment
Original Photo by Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash
Consider this for a moment, the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery and
involuntary servitude was passed and ratified in 1865. Fast forward almost a hundred years
later, and we get the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects employment
discrimination against race, color, religion, sex and national origin. It was further stated
that Title VII covers the full spectrum of employment decisions, yet we received the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act in 1967 and just six years later, the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973, which was passed to protect those with disabilities against discrimination. All of
which was enforced by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in an
attempt to be fair and inclusive. Presently, there is no federal law that protects people who
decides to wear their natural hair.
The fact that I have witnessed several people, myself included, encouraged to cut,
straighten, or cover their hair in a way that deprecates the look of naturality, is a summation
of America unwillingness to adhere to the laws it ennobles. The truth is, so many of us are
Chastity Jones-- a Black woman whose job offer was rescinded due to the fact she was
unwilling to cut her dreadlocks. Chastity Jones then filed a lawsuit against Catastrophe
Management Systems (CMS), after being told by her hiring manager the reason she could
not be hired was because “they tend to get messy, although I’m not saying yours are, but
you know what I’m talking about” and it’s painfully obvious that Jeannie Wilson (the HR
manager at the time) has never heard India.Arie ‘I Am Not My Hair’ or respected it enough to
uphold the song’s powerful message. In addition, Chastity Jones did not win her case because it
was determined by the Alabama district court that dreadlocks are “not an immutable trait” which
double down on the logic of company policy that the ban of natural hair (in this case dreadlocks)
cannot be a form of intentional discrimination.
New York has recently passed law that bans discrimination against natural locs this
past February, and more recently, California has followed in its footsteps. This is huge because
New York was once on the opposing side of Chastity Jones in the Rogers v. American Airlines
case. In this case, Renee Rogers,a Black woman, you guessed it, sued American Airlines in
1981 for whom she was employed by for 11 years up until that point, when she was demanded
not to wear her hair in a cornrow style. Rogers sued based on race and sex discrimination. The
court quickly ruled out that it was sex discrimination because men were subjected to the same
grooming policy. When Rogers argued it was race discrimination because cornrows was
“historically, a fashion and style adopted by Black American women, reflective of cultural and
historical essence” the courts ruled this argument out by stating, the cornrows is a “easily
changed characteristic” and therefore could not be protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act. Whether it is Chastity Jones, Renee Rogers or Jane Doe, Black hair is not respected
enough to be worn at the workplace.While states such as New York and California has take a
step in the right direction, I am reminded that everything worthwhile started one day at a time.
History has taught us that this is a process, and will be an uncomfortable one for those on
the opposing side of freedom of Black expression, and it’s unrelatedness the qualities that has
gotten us to the corporate world.
History also tells us that laws that “empower” Black folks, people like Jeannie
Wilson remind us of the holes America tends to patch with revisions that dilutes the truth.
When Solange sang the words “don’t touch my hair,” so eloquently, it is because my hair is
either adorned or scorned by people like Jeannie Wilson, a cog in a system that has issues
deeper than the messiness that can comes with locs. Adorned only at happy hour where
drinks accompany adulation, and with adulation comes the irresistible urge to reach out
and touch my hair. Yet scorned when my qualifications are dismissed simply because I do
not fit the mold of an organization still operating on eurocentric ideals. I cannot help but
think of the song ‘Not for the Radio’ when Nas expresses “I think they’re scared of us.” Me
too, Nas. Me too.