https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-mitchell-black-hair-bill-20190401-story.html
In The Times Editorial Board’s article, they explain that certain companies and jobs require people of color to keep their hair a certain way. This rule basically states “Black People can not have their Natural Hair.” As a result of this, black people and especially women, have hard times finding jobs if they do refuse to change their natural hair. If they do chose to follow this “rule”, they have to use damaging chemicals and hours at salons in order to keep their hair “business professional”. This is not just a racial situation happening in work places, this happens in educational environments as well. This needs to stop, and people are proposing bills to do so, to help put an end to this form of racial injustice.
In order to achieve the purpose of showing how wrong this policy is, The Times Editorial Board uses allusions to do so. By explaining the story of a high school wrestler who had to change their hair in order to compete, we are able to empathize for them and see how this effects people. The editorial board also used Holly Mitchell’s proposal of a bill to explain how actions and progressions are being made through this issue. By using these outside facts, the reader is able to see the seriousness of this issue and how it needs to be overcome.
I personally do agree with the point made in this article because I believe that you should never strip someone of their racial identity and try to pass it off as a “policy” in order to be “professional”. White-washing people of color is no where near the answer. Society needs to accept and appreciate the diversity we have in our country and focus on the beauty in each culture, while being respectful and not holding up other people’s culture to a “standard”. I personally have seen this first hand, as some of my friends’ schools have a “clean hair policy” which is unfair to people of color with different hair, because they simply can not wash their hair everyday, as it will endanger their hair’s health. Overall, whether natural or unnatural, people need to embrace our differences and not try to make everyone the same.
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