Hair (black hair in particular), has become one of the most lucrative markets to participate both in the physical and digital world. Black hair can be considered one of the most complex branches that stem from the black community in which blacks themselves dedicate a great deal of their life learning to take care of their hair and creating or adapting to styles that connect to their African roots while managing to be viewed as acceptable within societies dominated by whites.

Black people within the United States often endure racism and discrimination for natural hairstyles and natural hair in the workplace, school, sports, media, and other entities. Black hair is often deemed as "bad hair," unprofessional, or not attractive due to European standards of beauty that are embedded within the American social structure. 

Black people often find themselves downplaying their blackness in professional settings as a means to downplay their racial and ethnic identities to make their white counterparts more comfortable and to not have stereotypical labels placed onto them. Black people in the United States are constantly required to give up their blackness when it is not convenient for white people, yet every day we watch white people consume aspects of our culture that they deem as acceptable, diverse, and cool when they do it but considered "ghetto" when we do. 

There have been several cases and instances in which black people have been discriminated against in the United States simply because of their hair. The Supreme Court along with other states refuses to recognize natural hair discrimination as being directly related to race-based discrimination. In this petition, we call for protections against natural hair discrimination in which one should not be punished or denied acceptance for wearing a hairstyle that is directly linked to their heritage. 

A Few Cases and Occurrences of Hair Discrimination in the Last Couple of Years: 

2020:Kienjanae "KJ" Hooper was almost not allowed to graduate this year because her braids were colored burgundy. The principal claimes that Hooper's hair violated the dress code because the unnatural color would serve as a distraction. Hooper stated some of her peers have dyed their hair yellow and blue but their parents were never called about it. The school asked Hooper to take out her braids for the graduation ceremony in order for her to graduate. Eventually, the issue was resolved and after much debate, Hooper was permitted to wear her braids for graduation. 

2018: A New Jersey high school student was forced to have is dredlocks cut before his wrestling match or forfeit because his hair did not fit in the "proper hair cover." 

2018: The Supreme Court refused to hear a lawsuit placed by Chasity Jones against Catastrophe Management Systems because the company rescinded her job offer when she refused to cut off her dreadlocks. The HR manager described Jones's dredlocks as a style that "tend to get messy."

2017: Mya and Deanna Cook were pulled from class because their braided hair extensions were deemed "too distracting" and violated the school dress code. The two sixteen-year-old girls were banned from extracurricular activities and suspension was threatened if they did not change their hairstyle. 

2015:  A kindergartner was sent home from a Catholic school from having a "modern-fade." School officials said the five-year-olds hair would cause an "unduly influence on the student body" and he is not to return until he had a different hairstyle.