8. Defending the C.R.O.W.N.: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Nappyness

Intersectionality Matters!

Intersectionality Matters with Kimberlé Crenshaw

News

4.7 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2020

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There's a natural boom among women of African descent. Kinky, curly and coily hairstyles have joined cornrows, locks and twists as just a few of the looks that Black women, girls and femmes are rocking confidently and unapologetically. This Black hair renaissance is reshaping what we see in fashion magazines, on television, in classrooms, and even in boardrooms. But constant vigilance is the price of freedom, with the exception of new legislation in California and New York, it remains true that anti-discrimination laws nation-wide do virtually nothing to protect Black people from getting fired, suspended, and otherwise disciplined for wearing their natural hair. In 2012, Vanessa Van Dyke was threatened with expulsion by her Florida middle school unless she “tamed” her natural hair. Tiana Parker was told by her school that her dreadlocks were faddish and unacceptable. In 2013, Melphine Evans, a top executive at British Petroleum, says she was fired for wearing braids and dashikis to work. And in 2016, Chastity Jones lost her case against an employer who withdrew her job offer for refusing to cut off her natural locs. On this special episode of Intersectionality Matters, Kimberlé Crenshaw dishes with Mixed-ish star and PATTERN founder Tracee Ellis Ross on their respective journeys towards loving their own natural hair, aesthetic freedom, and how the current convulsive political moment is expanding the social justice imaginary. We also hear from award-winning journalist Brittany Noble Jones about her personal experience with hair discrimination in the workplace and modeling self-love for the next generation. Tune in for an inspiring look at Black women’s tireless advocacy for life, liberty and the pursuit of nappyness. Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks) Produced and Edited by Julia Sharpe Levine Recorded by Julia Sharpe-Levine and Susan Valot Music by Blue Dot Sessions With: Tracee Ellis Ross, (@traceeellisross), Brittany Noble Jones (@noblejonesontv) Pattern Beauty: @PatternBeauty Intersectionality Matters: ig: @intersectionalitymatters, twitter: @IMKC_podcast Additional support from G'Ra Asim, Michael Kramer, Emmett O'Malley, Zoe Bush, Andrew Sun

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Kimberly Crenshaw, and this is Season 2 of Intersectionality Matters, the podcast that brings
0:07.5	intersectionality to life by exploring the hidden dimensions of today's most pressing issues,
0:13.9	from Say Her Name and Me Too to the War on Civil Rights and the Global Rise of Fascism.
0:20.1	This idea Travelog lifts up the work of leading
0:23.8	activists, artists, and scholars and helps listeners understand politics, the law, social movements,
0:30.8	and even their own lives in deeper, more nuanced ways.
0:38.3	Fired for her natural hair. That's what one former news anchor says happened to her while working in
0:44.5	Jackson, Mississippi. As 15-year-old Deshanti Scott knows, hair can say so much about us.
0:49.9	Vanessa Van Dyck's desire to be different has become an issue at her private school. Her look is being called a distraction.
0:57.0	It involves hair, specifically the hairstyles of young African-American.
1:01.0	Vanning dreadlocks, twists, afro more than two inches, and cornrows, which is even misspelled.
1:08.0	And according to the Van Dykes, Vanessa has one week to tame her mane or she'll be kicked out.
1:15.7	People are actually quite surprised that hair discrimination is not illegal.
1:22.3	All the way back in 1980s, I think it was, Renee Rogers sued American Airlines for a rule that prohibited her from
1:30.7	wearing her hair in braids. The court's ruling against Rogers was a classic instance of
1:37.7	something that I've come to call intersectional erasure. Because basically, she was suing as a
1:43.2	black woman. She was basically saying,
1:44.9	look, this is a convenient way for me to wear my hair. It's not a costly way to wear my hair.
1:51.9	I don't have to use a lot of chemicals on my hair. I can still come to work and do my job.
1:57.1	But the court basically said, look, you can't say that the policy that prohibits you from wearing
2:04.1	braids to work is race discrimination because no one can wear braids, white people, black people,
2:11.1	no one. And you can't say that it's gender discrimination because neither men nor women can wear braids. In fact, the court even brought up
	...

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