Why Hair Isn't Just Hair

Abstract

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are used with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination, to promote the representation and participation of its employees. However, some white men feel that DEI policies are unnecessary and play an influential role in implementing DEI policies while simultaneously being a threat to them. For this chapter, the author will focus on the discriminatory definition of professionalism, its imposition on DEI, and the undermining of Title VII through hair discrimination. The author argues that white supremacy culture and its definition of professionalism engages in four mechanisms– devaluing and dehumanizing Blackness, removing Black identity and culture, forcing hegemonic ideologies rooted in anti-blackness, and controlling the bodily autonomy of Black women to answer the following research question: “Why is banning afro-textured natural hair and cultural Black hairstyles in the work environment a civil rights issue that contradicts DEI initiatives?”