Sixteen years ago, India.Arie released the song “I Am Not My Hair.”
Sixteen years later, Black hair is still a political artifact.
She was advised to remove a clip included in her newsreel because she was wearing braids in it.
CourtesyTreasure RobertsandLena Pringle
Last summer, she wore braids on air for the first time.
Come through, black women on TV with braids!!!!
Wearing mine for the first time, too!"
CourtesyLena Pringle
“It was ingrained in my brain that professional hair was straight,” says Terry.
But the pressures to conform to a specific standard of beauty aren’t always so forthright.
She claims that after she had her son, she asked if she could stop straightening her hair.
CourtesyTreasure Roberts
Nobody questions if they decide to curl wand their hair one day or wear it straight another day.
This visibility is intensified even more by the existence of social media.
“As Black women on TV, there are so many eyes on us,” shares Watkins.
CourtesySamaria Terry
“Eyes from people of all backgrounds.
They look at us as a trusted source.
“That is why it’s important.
When we show who wereallyare on the news people say, ‘She looks just like me!
Her hair is just like mine!
Maybe I can be on the news one day.’
you might do this, too.”
“It’s a great reminder for people that… when being yourself, the world will adjust.
Period,” Pringle shares.
“Honestly, we’re in this together,” says Roberts.
“It’s not about one of us or a couple of us.
What we’re doing is so much bigger than us.”
And together, they are rewriting professionalism.
Their definition does not include Eurocentric beauty standards.
It does not include words likedistractingorneat.
(“Some things are only distracting because you’ve never seen it,” notes Pringle.)
Their definition of professionalism is ever-evolving, fluid, open-minded, and subjective.
“I don’t even think you’re free to really define ‘looking professional.’
It’s just hair.
I,myself,am a journalist.
And thanks to these newscasters, the revolution may not be televised but our hair will be.
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