mekka okereke Dec 15, 2022

Q: Why do Black people care about hair representation so much?

Answer 1: Go to your favorite non-Google search engine. Do an image search. Search for "professional hair." Now search for "unprofessional hair." Let me know when you see it.

Answer 2: Go to trends.google.com. Do a search for "unprofessional hair" over the past 12 months in the United States. Notice that most of the results are in states where it was legal for employers to discriminate against employees with "unprofessional hair."

Show threadmekka okereke 

Congress passed the CROWN act that would prohibit employers from discriminating against natural Black hair in jobs.🙂 But of course, GOP Senators are blocking its passage.😑

In 2022 USA, hair as it grows naturally out of a white head can be considered "professional," but out of a Black head is "unprofessional."

The search queries include Black folk trying to figure out "You mean I can't get a job or get into college with unprofessional hair? But I just got a haircut? WTH is professional hair?"

Dec 15, 2022 at 5:43amWeb
Show threadAnti-mDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke "Professionalism" generally needs to die a swift death. In my anecdotal experience it's usually code for all manner of nastiness.
Show threadAnti-mDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke Sometimes it's white supremacy they're bolstering, other times it's patriarchy. Frequently they manage both!
Show threadPeter ButlerDec 15, 2022

@mekkaokereke I know I'm privileged to live in California, but this is one reason why I do -- we passed that law a few years ago.

It was an example in a discrimination and harassment training course I just took.

Things can get better, but we have to demand it.

Show threadOlsonDec 15, 2022
@peterbutler @mekkaokereke. And demand it with how we vote.
Show threadNoelleDec 16, 2022
@peterbutler @mekkaokereke What is the American conservative obsession with hair & people's hairstyles? Hairstyle does not affect intelligence, knowledge,e skills, abilities! The hair isn't the problem. It's the racist objection to someone not trying to look white featured
Show threadRuben van de VijverDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke I’m a free hair absolutist. And of course they’ll deem professional black persons ‘uppity’.
Show threadlord pthenq1Dec 15, 2022

@mekkaokereke

I thought it was approved! 🤔

Show threadLyndeeDec 15, 2022

@mekkaokereke

Jfc

Show threadcanusfeminacanisDec 15, 2022

@mekkaokereke

When you find out the diff between shorter hair and professional hair, will you please let me know? It seems so arbitrary as to be meaningless. Yet so.... occupationally intrusive.

Show threadChristo OlivierDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke I have no words to express my horror learning about this from you today. Living in Europe, I had no idea that this kind of madness was going on in the US. How can this discrimination be justified by anyone?!!
Show threadJD HarveyDec 15, 2022

@christo Subtle, systemic racism. The world is full of it. The white body is set as the “professional” example for society, then deviating is seen as “unprofessional.”

Don’t think Europe is immune. Here’s a story from The Guardian regarding hair discrimination in the UK published Oct of this year. The WORLD is full of it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/28/we-need-to-push-hair-discrimination-fight-moves-to-uk-workplaces

‘We need to push’: hair discrimination fight moves to UK workplaces

Campaigners welcome guidance to prevent discrimination in schools and set sights on employers

The Guardian
Show threadChristo OlivierDec 15, 2022

@runningpunk Thank you for highlighting that to me. I only disagree with you about one thing, I dont think this is subtle at all. The world is indeed full of it.

At least in the UK article you hihglighted it is clear that the EHRC has set a clear precedent, but it would have been way better if it never needed to be fought to begin with.

I just weep when I see this type of crap. It makes me furious.

Show threadJD HarveyDec 15, 2022

@christo Subtle in the way it isn’t Nazi salutes, KKK hoods, or racial slurs. It can be explained away and justified as “professionalism,” which makes easier to swallow for some people.

It should make you furious. And it would be great if people didn’t have to dedicate so much energy to fighting racism. But the foundations of white supremacy where set hundreds of year ago, across many cultures & nations, and it takes time and work to dismantle.

Show threadOlsonDec 15, 2022
@christo @mekkaokereke
it’s justified by wealth; the wealthy want to keep it.
Show threadMab_813Dec 15, 2022

@christo @mekkaokereke

fellow European here. This kind of madness is absolutely happening here too.
It's just more comfortable for many white Europeans to talk about racism in the USA than to engage with all the stories about racism in Europe.

Show threadMothDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke The fact that we even need to pass a law like this shows that systemic racism is alive and well in the US. Just in case anyone wanted any "proof".
Show threadPatty Bluebird 🦩Dec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke Black people will be discriminated against as long as the sky is blue.
White people are so afraid of Black people and will stop at nothing to 'prove' their superiority.
Honestly, I think they are JEALOUS and AFRAID of intelligent and powerful Black people.
Look at how they treated President Obama.
Show threadJamie Mango ShermanDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke Republicans know no bounds to their assault on anyone not just like them.
Show threadVeirling | #MMIWG #LandBackDec 15, 2022

@mekkaokereke
"GOP Senators are blocking its passage"

It's no wonder Hitler used the US as one of his models for the 3rd reich. Here we still are.

Show threadIf I Were the KingDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke
The civil rights laws need to be amended to eliminate all traces of "normal" meaning "white", for hair, manner of speech, manner of worship, and everything else. This is a whole category, that includes bosses getting upset when people speak their home language at work, or taking out a prayer rug, or telling people not to wear turbans or beards or yarmulkes, etc etc.
Show threadFrankieJDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke I would like this answer as well. The GOP oversteps. The GOP leads with anger.
Show threadAmelia Bellamy-RoydsDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke And don't forget the part about how the chemicals used to straighten and smooth naturally frizzy hair have been shown to have long-term health risks, but many people feel they have to keep using them to maintain their professional prospects.
Show threadmekka okereke Dec 15, 2022

@AmeliaBR

Yup. For folks that don't know, lye is a dangerous chemical often used to dissolve animal tissue and hair. Think "Draino" that plumbers tell you not to use because it dissolves hair, but it also *dissolves your pipes*! That's Sodium Hydroxide, aka lye.

If the cross section of one of your hairs is oval shaped it will be curly, as disulfide bonds can bend it in one axis easier than the other. You can't change the cross section much, but you can dissolve outer layers😮

Show threadmekka okereke Dec 15, 2022

@AmeliaBR

Putting lye on your head consistently, increases your risk for an aggressive form of breast cancer, and increases your chance of developing uterine cancer.

https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-finds-possible-link-between-hair-straightening-chemicals-and-uterine-cancer.html

The risk is not higher for Black women than white women if they are both exposed or both not exposed to chemical hair straighteners. But Black women are much more likely to be exposed, because, well, systemic racism that says that their natural hair is unprofessional. 🤷🏿‍♂️

Study Finds Possible Link Between Hair Straightening Chemicals and Uterine Cancer

Women who use chemical hair straighteners and relaxers may have a higher risk of uterine cancer, according to a new study from researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

American Cancer Society
Show threadsofticecreamlesleyDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke @AmeliaBR Yes! The chemicals, the cost, the time one has to spend. I don’t think people understand what a problem this actually is for Black people.
Show threadEl DudeDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke I'm half-Black and half brown-skinned Latino, and I was told at a previous job that I needed to shave my beard because the long, natural hair and the beard were, and I quote, "too much." I was still naive enough at that point to think that HR was there to protect employees, and I was told that I would need to cut it if that's what my bosses requested. I quickly quit that job. I now work from home where no one can threaten me about growing my hair out where it can be thick and wavy without anyone being able to complain, and my heart breaks for people who are forced into the decision of hiding who they are in order to make a dollar.
Show threadCromulent OutputsDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke
Just walk in wearing this while shouting "AM I DOING IT RIGHT?"
Show threadRobert Wilson, III 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇸🇸🇮Dec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke Having long hair and a long beard also is considered unprofessional too. It's all about conformity and control. Apple has a good show on American culture called "For All Mankind."
Show threadsofticecreamlesleyDec 15, 2022
@mekkaokereke I hope this passes the Senate now that there’s a Democratic majority. Somehow I thought this had already passed. It’s certainly long overdue.
Show threadJim KubicekDec 15, 2022

@mekkaokereke for anyone else stumbling on this thread, here’s the current federal bill in committee: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/888

Here are the current committee members: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/

I emailed Feinstein and asked her to move the bill along!

Show thread3wombatsDec 16, 2022
@mekkaokereke @NoelleSaysNoGOP That is beyond ridiculous. Professional hair Ha