Last week, we entered a conversation on colorism and hairism.
As our national conversations on race have broadened to include more people of all races, researchers and advocates have increasingly found connections between discrimination and our institutional structures.
“Discrimination based on your skin color, or colorism, is connected to so many aspects at the structural level, such as access to jobs and education, such as trends in prison sentencing,” said Vanessa Gonlin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Georgia, who will be teaching a class on hairism and colorism next year. “So, when we’re then thinking about this at the individual level, of course, as individuals, we are connected to the structures and institutions that we’re in.”
Hairism is also connected to institutional structures. And as part of a course Gonlin is developing, called “Colorism and Hairism across Communities of Color,” she will have students think about how to address colorism and hairism in terms of policy solutions.
“And I’ll, of course, give the example of the policy of the CROWN Act, which is focusing on working against hair texture discrimination,” said Gonlin.
The CROWN Act—or C-R-O-W-N—stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” The bill’s authors say that it will prohibit race-based hair discrimination in employment and educational opportunities based on hair texture or hairstyles. Similar measures are already law in nine states.
The CROWN Act has been considered in Georgia, though it did not become law. However, local governments, like the Clayton County Commission have passed ordinances making it illegal for certain entities to discriminate based on hair textures and hairstyles.
While laws like the CROWN Act address hairism, Gonlin also wants her students to think about policy solutions for colorism. And she feels students can begin now.
“So, I’m hoping that they’ll be able to think about what they can do right now as students. Right now, either in their friend groups or in their organizations,” said Gonlin.
Krysten Long, is a doctoral student in the department of sociology at UGA and Gonlin’s mentee.
“On a structural level, I think we should start by stopping the policing of our aesthetic and things that we value within our culture that go along with our aesthetic: our hairstyles, which we tend to think are forms of expression, which are not synonymous with being unprofessional,” said Long.
As Gonlin mentioned earlier, individuals are connected to structures and institutions. So, in addition to addressing colorism on a policy level, it can also be addressed on an individual level.
“Why in the world does a law need to be passed to tell me that the hair on my head is okay,” said LaPorsche Thomas, a digital content creator and reporter for WXIA in Atlanta. “The only reason that law has to be passed is because so many people have said, ‘ooh, well, you don’t look the way I’m used to people looking’.”
Education can help, which brings us back to the course Gonlin is developing. Here’s Thomas when asked what she thinks about a course offering like Gonlin’s.
“Just maybe this course will help you see when you are dismissing someone. Because it’s not always about being mean; it’s about not seeing them, right…,” said Thomas. “Don’t save me, see me. Sometimes if you just arm people with the right knowledge, you don’t have to worry about saving someone, right. If you can just see them, then you will know how to respond to whatever situation.”
Gonlin reminds us, we have power as individuals. “There’s a certain amount of power that we have. And then we could also potentially push for there to be changes, if we’re thinking more as a collective group, as well.”
