Here is a picture of me with my natural afro and tomorrow I’m celebrating my hair. This might seem like a small or strange thing to be celebrating - but for me, it’s a huge part of my identity, heritage and culture. It’s taken time for me to realise how beautiful it really is.
When I was at school, I was forced to take out my braids, a classic afro hairstyle, because a teacher didn’t like them. My mum was forced to fight my corner. Growing up, I soon learnt that black people have been refused jobs or given ultimatums because people believe our natural hair doesn’t make us look “professional”.
There are countless black people who can speak about how their hair has affected their lives in both subtle and life-changing ways. It’s not ok for people to be targeted because of their hair. That’s why, this Black History Month, I’m calling on the UK Government to ban hair discrimination.
Natural and protective hairstyles including afros, braids and dreadlocks are traditional ways to express our heritage and simply have our hair. It is because this is not understood, that young children are subjected to being punished by teachers or bullied by peers.
In New York and California they have already taken the step to ban hair discrimination - it’s time we do it in the UK too.
Because of incidents like this:
Only 37% of Black women feel comfortable wearing an Afro or Dreads to a professional event
1 in 5 Black women feel social pressure to straighten their hair for work
78% of people instinctively prefer smooth hair
I want to make sure that all black people, from children at school to our colleagues in the workplace never face discriminated against based on the hair grown from their head.
Please help by signing this petition. Thank you.
P.S. Along with the campaign, I’m calling on people to embrace their hair and realise how beautiful it really is. Pls follow and take part by posting a photo on social media tomorrow of your hair using the hashtag #UnderstandMyHair the example is above!
Remember all hair is beautiful <3