In this reported op-ed, Kaitlyn McNab explores how Black news anchors are embracing their natural textures and hairstyles, and redefining what “professionalism” looks like on television.
Sixteen years ago, India.Arie released the song "I Am Not My Hair." Lyrically, the song explores the societal biases associated with Black hair, and the self-affirming chorus is a mantra of resistance: one should not be defined by the way they wear their hair.
Sixteen years later, Black hair is still a political artifact.
Nationwide, Black people are still disproportionately affected by aesthetic norms and expectations in school and the workplace, by standards that belong to the white supremacist system of discrimination. In the fall of 2020, the CROWN Act — a law prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyle and texture — was passed by the House of Representatives and moved forward to be considered by the Senate, but failed to reach a floor vote before the end of the year. If it passes the Senate and is signed into law by President Biden, hair discrimination would be illegal nationwide. As of 2021, at the state level, CROWN Act bills have been reintroduced in the legislative sessions of states including Kansas (one of the most recent states in which it was again brought up) and has so far been signed into law in eight states.