The War on Natural Hair
Jessica Sims is being honorably discharged from the Navy.
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Sailor Discharged from the Navy for Locks - Jessica Sims, a Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class, will be honorably discharged on Aug. 29 for wearing her locks, as it is “too bulky to be work with a gas mask,” the Navy Times reports. She was ordered to cut the hair she has worn since 2005. Sims said her hair was never an issue before checking into a boot camp at Greak Lakes, Illinois. “I don’t think I should be told that I have to straighten my hair in order to be within what they think the regulations are,” she said to the Navy Times. BET.com takes a look at the war on natural hair. — Dominique Zonyéé and Natelegé Whaley (Photo: Courtesy HM2 Jessica Sims)
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Rastafarian Student Banned from Louisiana High School - On Aug. 25, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote an open letter to a Louisiana High School Board on behalf of a South Plaquemines High School student who wears dreadlocks as a form of religious expression and was told that he had to cut his hair. His mother provided a letter from their 1st Church of Rastafar I, asking that he be exempt from the school’s dress code. Yet he still remains banned from the school. --- (Photo: Erik Isakson/Rubberball/Corbis)
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Natural Hair Woes - Many African-American women are swapping out their chemically treated ‘dos for their natural curls and kinks. However, natural hair is not accepted everywhere. Tiana Parker, 7, recently was forced to leave her Tulsa, Oklahoma, elementary school on account of her dreadlocks. Parker’s school is not the first intuition or organization to put a ban on natural hairstyles. (Photo: Charlotte Observer/MCT /Landov)
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Fired for Defending Natural Hair - Meteorologist Rhonda Lee was fired from Louisiana KTBS 3 news in October 2012 after defending her natural hair on Facebook following racist comments. Recently, WeatherNation, KTBS 3's main competitor, hired Lee as a meteorologist. Lee is suing her former station, and says she doesn't yet know when her new job will begin.(Photo: Courtesy of Rhonda A. Lee)
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Natural Hair Is “Unacceptable” - Deborah Brown Community School in Oklahoma “hassled” Tiana Parker’s parents about her dreadlocks. According to Tiana’s father, Terrance Parker, she attended the school for a year without problems with her hair. Nevertheless, the predominantly African-American school’s dress code states "hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks, and other faddish styles are unacceptable."(Photo: Courtesy of Tiana Parker Family)
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Backflips and Buckshots - In 2012, Gabrielle Douglas made headlines for becoming the first African-American in Olympic history to win all-around gold, she also made headlines for hair. Fans took to Twitter to bash her pulled-back hair, calling her “beady bead” and other derogatory comments. Douglas ignored the comments, but it set off a fiery natural hair debate.(Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
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Afro Hair Is “Nasty” - The Talk talk-show host Sheryl Underwood reignited the natural hair debate when she described afro hair as “nasty and beady bead” on air on Aug. 31. Although she meant it as a joke, fans were irate, prompting Underwood to publicly apologize for her remarks.(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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“Poofy” Hair a Red Flag? - The Transportation Security Administration searched Laura Aidele’s “poofy” hair in 2011 at Seattle’s Sea-Tec Airport after she already went through a full body scan. Aidele told MSNBC the hair search occurred because she was Black. TSA maintained that there was no wrongdoing.(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Men Want "Good Hair" - Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa made headlines in 2011 when he said in an E! interview that the wants women with “good hair.” He later tweeted an apology saying, “I want 2 apologize wholeheartedly 2 anyone out there who was offended or hurt by the irresponsible comments I made on E! News. #ignorant.”(Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for WIRED)
