In America, our freedom is often seen as the utmost important thing. Speech, expression, the right to bear arms, and so on. But what happens when suddenly, one of those is taken away, and the land of the free isn’t so free anymore?
I assume that pulled in a crowd. Some of you may be thinking that I’m right, guns are a personal belonging, on and on. But I’m actually talking about something so trivial, you’d be shocked that there is government control over, or even a debate about it at all: hair.
On September 15th, the U.S. Court of Appeals sided against Chastity Jones, a black woman who lost a job offer after a resources manager told her her dreadlocks were against policy. She took them to court, stating that dreadlocks were a cultural thing, and that she shouldn’t be treated differently because of it. Sounds easy enough, right?
Of course, the USCA said that because hairstyles are not an immutable aspect of African-American culture, she basically had no reason to be upset at all. Trying to say that your hair texture isn’t immutable sounds ridiculous to me, anyone else?
These modern day Jim-Crow laws didn’t start with Jones however- Faith Christian Academy in Orlando, Florida threatened to expel 12 year old Vanessa VanDyke if she didn’t cut her hair back in 2014. A group of black female students in South Africa held a protest after a group of them were told their afros and curls were against dress code.
The stigma behind dreads or big hair should not exist. When Zendaya was on the red carpet in 2015, commentator Giuliana Rancic mentioned that she probably smelled like marijuana. Zendaya responded in a very mature manner, encouraging black women everywhere.
The problem that is faced in all of these cases is that the women with these hairstyles are black in most cases, which is what raises a question: “Why is our society becoming so accepting of modern discrimination?”
With the recent shift from being polite and accepting of all races and lifestyles, to not caring who is hurt, it’s apparent that people aren’t worried about what they say. In the school cases, it’s so important that the districts do not discriminate against students, because that only shows the other students that it’s okay, and shows the victims that their appearance is more important than the education that they deserve.
Discrimination can eventually end, and I don’t think people realize this. Systematic and institutionalised racism in our country and worldwide can be solved in one way: acceptance. If we ignore the cultures of those around us and constantly claim our’s is superior, no good comes from it.
Equality is a basic concept. The people that want it don’t want to be superior, they are simply tired of being seen as inferior. They don’t want special treatment, they want to be treated the same. They don’t want to take over the human race, but be treated as a part of it.
