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36 Harv. B.L. Law J. 27 (2020)
What the Hair: Employment Discrimination against Black People Based on Hairstyles

handle is hein.journals/hblj36 and id is 31 raw text is: WHAT THE HAIR: EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE BASED ON HAIRSTYLES Ra'Mon Jones INTRODUCTION When you see a person with an afro, braids, dreadlocks (locs), or any other popular natural hairstyle, do you think of them as unprofessional or unemployable? Apparently, many employers do. Black men and women who don their natural tresses, either wooly and full, in intricate twists or braids, or in velvet-ropy locs often receive bold and awkward questions and comments about their hair from employers. Some of these comments include demands that Black people change their hair to look profes- sional.1 Unfortunately, many Black people who embrace their natural hair textures and styles are faced with a dilemma: whether they should stifle their roots (hair and culture) for the sake of getting or keeping a job or risk losing a job opportunity for refusing to change their hair to appeal to employers. A reasonable person would think that how people wear their hair, let alone how the hair naturally looks as it grows from the scalp, has nothing to do with whether they are qualified for a particular job; however, natu- ral hair seems to scream unprofessional in corporate America.2 For years, Black women have been pressured to straighten their hair or wear it mod- estly, while Black men have been pressured to cut their hair and shave their facial hair to appear less menacing, all for a more professional look.3 Wealthy white men, in power since the dawn of colonial America, de- 1. See Janice Gassam, Can a Company Tell Employees How to Wear Their Hair?, FORBES, Oct. 10, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2018/10/24/can-a- company-tell-employees-how-to-wear-their-hair/#275e44725aOf. 2. Id. 3. See generally Areva Martin, The Hatred of Black Hair Goes Beyond Ignorance, TIME, Aug. 23, 2017, available at https://time.com/4909898/black-hair-discrimination-ig- norance/ (discussing the hateful attitudes toward Black hair and how women and men are ridiculed about how they wear their hair. These attitudes vehemently insist that Black natural hair is distracting, and individuals are urged to cut or straighten it to look presentable in professional settings and even in schools. School policies have gone as far as to ban natural hairstyles because they are deemed unkempt, extreme ...faddish and out of control. Such attitudes insinu- ate that natural hair is detestable and perpetuate nonsensical notions that Black peo- ple who wear their natural hair are disruptive, troublesome, inappropriate, and unfit for professional arenas).

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