My One-Word Response When A Woman Is Told Her Hair Is Too Black
“In solidarity with young girls and women who look like me and those who don’t — I want them to know that their braids, their dreads, their super-curly afro puffs, their weaves, their hijabs and their headscarves, and all other variety of hair styles belong in schools, in the work place, in the boardroom, and yes, even here on Parliament Hill.”
– Celina Caesar-Chavannes
I said those words over two years ago when I was a Member of Parliament with the Government of Canada, after hearing of young Black girls in Canada and the United States being removed from classrooms because their hair was “too puffy.” I faced microaggressions myself, at work.I had colleagues mistake me for, and tag me in pictures as, other Black women…