For my showcase post I want to post about my second diary topic, hair. More specifically the systemic injustices involving Black/African-American hair in the United States. I love sports and remember a controversial letter that was sent to a college but I will discuss this later. I will also admit that it reminded me after watching John Oliver’s piece on “Black Hair”. This is obviously not school-friendly with the language and jokes used throughout the video but I do enjoy watching the episodes and how they push me to further research the topic.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/penn-state-hair-letter-controversy-shows-how-being-black-proud-ncna1064291
Like I had mentioned in the first paragraph, I actually came across this topic a couple of years ago and even then, I was disgusted as to why that happened. The story involves the Penn State football team and one of their players that was a sophomore at the time. That players name is Jonathan Sutherland, who is from Ontario, Canada. He was selected as a team captain during his sophomore season, a defensive player who was becoming a prominent figure on the team with his play. He was having a breakout year but this became largely overshadowed by the controversy that ensued because of a former graduate of Penn State. Jonathan Sutherland has long dreadlocks, a hairstyle he still has to this day, which obviously comes out of his football helmet. This older graduate had written a letter to Penn State describing his hair as “awful”. Obviously, this letter was met with huge backlash and the coach of Penn State defended his student athlete saying “He’s a captain, he’s a dean’s list honor student. He’s confident. He’s articulate. He’s intelligent. He’s thoughtful. He’s caring and he’s committed”. The policing of Black hair and Black people in general is not a new thing in America, as this problem has come up in many different industries.
https://temple-news.com/prohibit-hair-discrimination-pass-crown-act/
Looking at this systemic injustice, there are many examples of Black people having their hair cut in school, for example, before wrestling matches or at other sport’s events they might not qualify because of their hair. Black people may be at risk of losing their job for this reason as well. It is very prevalent in professional settings, which discriminate against natural hairstyles that are prevalent in Black communities. “Locs” and other predominantly Black hairstyles have been unfairly criticized for being dirty or unkept. This has led to massive discrimination and has forced people to change how they look just to fit in. Fighting this discrimination has been very troublesome because the current civil rights laws have been interpreted by judges as protecting characteristics that cannot be changed such as skin color. Obviously, hair is something that can be changed but it isn’t so easy to and hair makes up someone’s identity, it is who they are, a type of expression. One way that can help fix, but not fully solve the issue, is to fight for the current CROWN Act to become law in all fifty states. As of right now it is law in twelve states. This act stands for ‘Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair’ and it “prohibits race-based hair discrimination, which is the denial of employment and educational opportunities because of hair texture or protective hairstyles”. This is just one way of combatting this systemic injustice, I think another way is education on this matter, just like we have education on sexual harassment and other forms of hate in the work place.
I want to say this is a systemic injustice based on how much it has happened and how deeply it’s rooted in the world we live in, whether it be sports, school or work related. Hair is part of who we are and is a way people can express themselves. Systemic injustices involving hair are one of the many forms of discrimination against the Black community. It forces them to change their hair to fit in, to not lose a job or risk not being accepted for a job. This injustice needs to be addressed more than it has been.
Works Cited:
Butler, Anthea. “The Penn State Hair Letter Controversy Shows How Being Black and Proud Is Still Political.” NBCNe
ws.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 9 Oct. 2019, www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/penn-state-hair-letter-controversy-shows-how-being-black-proud-ncna1064291.
Celletti, Erin Nicole. “A Penn State Alumnus Wrote a Racist Letter to Football Player Jonathan Sutherland About His Dreadlocks.” Teen Vogue, Teen Vogue, 9 Oct. 2019, www.teenvogue.com/story/psu-football-player-dreadlocks.
“Hair: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).” Performance by John Oliver, YouTube, Home Box Office Inc., 10 May 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf1c0tEGfrU&ab_channel=LastWeekTonight.
“Natural Hair Discrimination.” NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, NAACP, 3 July 2021, www.naacpldf.org/natural-hair-discrimination/.
Staff, Boulevard. “12 States Have Passed the Crown Act to Legalize Black Hair in 2021.” Boulevard, Boulevard, 3 July 2021, www.joinblvd.com/blog/crown-act-day-2021.
Your showcase of systematic injustice mentioned that blacks are discriminated against because of their hair, which is different from what we used to pay attention to because we often pay attention to the problem of discrimination due to skin color, race, and so on. Your attention is very novel, but when we think about it carefully, it is true. Many excellent students can’t participate in the competition because of their hair and get better results, which is really unfair. Because different people have different hair colors and different hair management, I think our society needs more tolerance and understanding. It is necessary to add a variety of hair colors, rather than shut them out.
This was an absolutely wonderful showcase. I loved how you brought in engaging and applicable sources like referencing John Oliver’s speech. This is such a prevalent issue in today’s society that often goes unnoticed. Another related topic I wanted to bring about is the discrimination in the hair industry faced by consumers. Typically, products geared towards the type of hair African Americans have are overpriced. This further alienates the already marginalized group of Black Americans.
I really enjoyed reading this post and think it is a very creative topic! I think you did a really nice job of explaining situations in which individuals’ hair has been negatively viewed. I really like how you were able to focus in on hair specifically instead of just saying that there is systematic injustice against African Americans. This made your post a whole lot more interesting and more detailed. Overall, really nice job, I loved reading this unique post!