One example of systematic injustice in my day to day life was in my dance class. I am a dance major here at Ohio State, so I take ballet as a required class. Ballet is a Western Dance form and was created in the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe. It is known to have been formed in Italy and then was brought to France. At OSU, dance majors are required to wear their hair in a bun with certain tights and leotard in ballet classes. Pink tights, leotards and buns have been the common attire for ballet since it was invented. However, it has been several hundred years since ballet was founded, so these old stereotypes should have room to be modified and changed due to being potentially discriminatory. Many non-white dancers in the department have come forward about the fact that ballet is a western art form and is not the “foundation of dance” as some people like to believe, and the attire/ hair requirements are actually discriminatory.
Specifically, some of the black students here have stated that their hair can’t go into the ballet bun that is very commonly required in class, so therefore they feel singled out and feel that they stand out compared to other dancers because their hair is different. In general, African American students could even feel stressed that their grades may suffer because they can’t put their hair in a traditional ballet bun. I have danced for about 15 years and never have I once thought about the fact that a ballet bun requirement is a form of systematic racism until it was brought to my attention by some of my peers. Why is a ballet bun necessary? Why are we still conforming to the norms from hundreds of years ago? This scenario definitely helped me to understand the ideals of systematic racism that are discussed in this class. For example, in the novel, Persepolis Marji has had to conform to many new social aspects that she doesn’t feel comfortable doing. Society wanted to require that she wear the head scarf when she didn’t want to. I feel that people should be able to dress however they choose and no one should control that.
The ballet bun was a hairstyle created by white women and was only done on white women when invented, but now dancers of all types of race practice ballet, so the hairstyle requirement should have been changed before now. I feel that requiring a specific hairstyle is a form of systematic injustice and should really be thought over. I’m sure the professors at OSU and the thousands of dance teachers around the world thought no harm in the ballet bun because it is a form of a long tradition. It specifically strips away the culture of black dancers and can have a strong impact on how they view ballet or how they approach the class. 
