By: Rayna Young Despite all the drawbacks and foolishness, I have to admit, being black is pretty cool. Being heavily melanated means you hold claim to rap music, cool hairstyles and most importantly, Beyoncé. But this article isn’t about music or Beyoncé: it's about hair. Cornrows, afros, dreads-you name it, and black people rock it. But recently, Prestoria High School in South Africa has prohibited its students from wearing these hairstyles as a part of its dress code in favor of hairstyles that are “neat and orderly,” whatever that means. Clearly the creators of this dress code have never seen cornrows done right, because after I got cornrows, every hair on my head was laid down and pulled back in a way that was neat and orderly, even if it strayed on the side of Botox. While these rules were removed from the school’s dress code after receiving backlash, it's a sign that South Africa, a country that only 22 years ago had systematically institutionalized racism, still has a lot of progress to do. Coincidentally, a country about 13,000 kilometers away is also struggling with race relations. The trouble is, I don't have an excuse for them.
That's right, I'm talking about America: the land of the free, and the home of cultural appropriation. Articles praising Kylie Jenner’s boxer braids as revolutionary are prevalent, but they are incorrect. These traditionally black hairstyles have been repossessed and glorified by white people, but often they are villainized on the people they belong to. In 2014, the U.S. Army updated its dress code in a very similar fashion to Prestoria High School. Once again, dreadlocks, cornrows and other traditionally black hairstyles were forbidden. However, unlike the situation in South Africa, no changes have been made to the military dress code. When asked about the dress code, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said, “Each Service reviewed its hairstyle policies to ensure standards are fair and respectful while also meeting our military requirements. As a result of these reviews the Army, Navy, and Air Force determined changes were necessary to their Service grooming regulations to include additional authorized hairstyles.” This not only speaks to the treatment of black women in the country, but also to the value that something as minuscule as hair has. The fact is, the U.S. Army would keep people from defending our country because of their hairstyles, and that's seriously twisted. At the end of the day, the way you wear your hair is a representation of your culture; however, it shouldn't be taken too seriously, and it definitely should not keep you from going to school or serving your country. And if someone doesn't like your hairstyle, brush it off.
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January 2018
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