WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 032622 Protecting Black Hair from Discrimination Part 2 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:06.000 And now watching my mic back, you're like that. 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:13.560 You can strike waters from headquarters behind him and the porters. 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.040 But if you're just tuning into Civic Cipher, I'm your host, 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:17.119 ramses Jock. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:22.320 Go by the name q Ward sometime djq Ward, but 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:24.840 maybe never again, but we'll talk. 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:26.360 About that later. No, let's bring it back, man. I 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:30.120 miss DJ q Ward at the at the Phoenix suns 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.960 Uh Stadium. They're in Arena DJ among other things, the world, 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.600 world class, world traveling DJ. Yeah, let's bring him back. Anyway, 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:43.600 we are a couple of DJs aren't like man, and 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:45.479 we decided to do a show for you. Hopefully you'll 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.120 stick around for the second half. We are going to 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:53.960 talk about what I believe to be something positive. The 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:59.760 House has passed to build that bands discrimination for hair, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.040 so we're definitely going to talk about that and our 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:04.759 way black history of fact. We're going to talk about 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:09.040 an all black women's World War II unit, so that 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.400 is something we're sticking around for as well. But first 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:17.400 and foremost, let's discuss how to become a better ally 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.880 bah bah So. I don't know if you've heard about 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:29.040 this one, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen discussed the systemic 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.080 inequalities still lurking in the US economy and the work 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.240 her department needs to do to narrow the racial wealth 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.720 divide during remarks at an event honoring the late doctor 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:47.199 Martin Luther King, Junior. This comes from abcnews dot Com. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.040 Quote from reconstruction at Jim Crow to the present day, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.040 our economy has never worked fairly for Black Americans, or 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.400 really for any American of color, the Treasury chief said 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.000 during the Reverend Al Sharpton National Action Network's annual Record 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:02.960 is honoring the life and legacy of doctor King since 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.320 taking off his last January. Yellen said that she and 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:07.600 her team have worked hard to quote ensure that neither 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:12.040 the figurative Bank of Justice nor any literal economic institution 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.440 fails to work for people of color. She said, the 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:19.320 Treasury has recently completed its first equity review quote, looking 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:24.919 across departments and asking where are our operations not as 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:29.920 inclusive as they should be. Yellen added that they have 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.360 also hired the department's first ever counselor on racial equity 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.120 and sought to hire the quote most diverse leadership team 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.200 and Treasury history. Quote. She added that the Treasury was 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.560 injecting some nine billion dollars in the community development financial 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:46.960 institutions and minority depository institutions that seek to serve people 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:51.160 in places that the financial sector historically has left out. 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:57.079 This is important because you can listen to my show. 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:02.240 It's on the iHeartMedia podcast network called the Black Information 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:07.040 Network Daily Podcast. I did an episode called Banking while 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:12.480 Black and this Treasury Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is an 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:16.680 example of one person trying to change what that means. 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:21.040 Hopefully we can make it have some dignity. But yeah, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.239 that is an example of a better ally, and you 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:25.480 should aspire to be like her, make some changes if 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.560 you're in a position to do so. So now we 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:39.840 move on. I have a big old afro. You listen 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.520 to me every week, and I appreciate that. By the way, 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:47.000 it means a lot to me and to Q and 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.040 to my children and my family and my friends and 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.160 people that I don't know who are black and share 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.200 this experience and people who I don't know who are 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:59.080 not black and empathize that you listen every week. So 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.880 I'm going to tell you a black story about me. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:11.760 I was born in California, Compton, California, in the eighties. 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.200 Nineteen eighty two was when I was born, and so 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.159 I saw a lot of heavy stuff. Imagine Compton in 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.400 the eighties, drugs, gangs, all that sort of stuff. That 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.840 was my reality. I used to think when I was 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:29.640 very little that the magical age was twenty. If I 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.920 could make it to twenty years old, then I will 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:39.920 have made it because everyone around me was dying. Sounds crazy, Yeah, 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:41.680 that was a real thing, and we'd hear these stories. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:52.920 Of course, such and such died he was only sixteen, thirteen, seventeen, nineteen, fourteen, teen, teen, teen, 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:57.040 teen teens. So I thought twenty was the magic number. 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.159 You know, most kids think eighteen or twenty one. That 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.400 was me. I thought twenty right follow me. That number 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:09.280 stayed with me as I grew six, seven, eight, nine, 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.960 ten years old, moved to Arizona, eleven, twelve, thirteen. All 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:18.880 those years, twenty is the magic number. I knew. I 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:20.720 was never going to drink, I was never going to 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.760 smoke cigarettes. That just never really spoke to me. I 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:27.080 wasn't waiting on the day when I could do those things. 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.680 So for always it was always the number twenty right 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.640 ingrained in my head from those traumas. When I was younger, 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.080 I had a friend that died. There was these two 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:42.239 kids I played with, Keith and David. They were my age, 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.039 and Keith died on the street where I died in 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.000 the sidewalk. Somebody shot him. Gone didn't get to grow 0:05:50.080 --> 0:06:01.320 up twenty So now I'm going to school and I 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.880 get into college. Those of you that listened to the 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:08.240 show regularly know the name doctor Camilla Westenberg. She made 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.320 sure that I was able to go to college. She's 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.640 a frequent contributor to the show here. So when I 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:19.600 got to college, I was really excited. And when I 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:24.440 was twenty years old, I was kind of staring at 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.360 the end of my schooling career, you know, my academic career, 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:30.359 or so I thought at the time. I ended up 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.039 going back and getting a master's, but at that time, 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.640 I thought that was the end, and I was in 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.960 a business school. I went to the Wpkrey College of 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:42.960 Business at Arizona State University. And at that school when 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.920 I was there, there weren't many black people. I'd be 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.400 in huge lecture halls, four hundred students, and I'd be 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.159 the only black person in them. I'd be in small 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.080 classes of course and be the only black person. There 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:57.839 were Hispanic people in the classes, and no one was unkind, 0:06:57.880 --> 0:06:59.560 no one was me, and everyone kind of got it. 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.679 Thank god. These you know, in academic environments, people tend 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.200 to be cool. But one of the things that I 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:11.600 realized is that I'm alone in this space. It's just 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.520 me here. I am the sum total of the black 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.400 voice in this conversation. I am the experience that these 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.920 students will take with them as they go out and 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:25.680 help shape the world of tomorrow. Me just one person, right, 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:30.320 And that didn't feel like enough blackness, because black people 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.480 do exist where the reason other people exist, you know, 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.320 and black people do matter, Black lives matter. Will say 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:42.840 it all as often as I can. But where I 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:48.840 lived in Arizona, numerically, there weren't a lot of black people, right. 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:50.440 It's not like I grew up in Atlanta and I 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.160 went to a historically black college or university. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:53.200 No. 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.640 I went to Arizona State University in Arizona, right, and 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.840 then I'm at this prestigious business school, you know, And 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:02.360 we all know that there are a lot of social 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:07.200 factors that kind of play into that. So not everybody 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.120 gets to make it that far. But I did. And 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.280 if you're like me, if you're like Q, you recognize, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:19.960 uh oh, I'm the only one here. Immediately it's no 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:24.800 longer about me. Immediately, I have a responsibility. Immediately, it's 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.560 just like that, Okay, this is not for me to 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:29.400 show off. This is not for me to stunt. You 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.400 know what I'm saying. It's not my time. I have 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:35.880 to really represent. If you're listening to this show, you 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.800 know how that word fits in black culture. Represent right, 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.680 So how did I increase the amount of blackness in 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.559 those lecture halls? How did I increase the amount of blackness? 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.720 When I was giving presentations, pitching business ideas, when I 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:54.920 was writing reports, when I was doing case studies? How 0:08:54.920 --> 0:09:00.240 did I increase the amount of blackness? Well, it's just 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:04.600 one side of the problem. The other side was I 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:06.439 now have to go out into the world at the 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:11.120 end of this school year, and I'm probably going to 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.320 see many rooms that look just like this, or there's 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.560 not a lot of black people in these rooms. How 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.680 do I increase the amount of blackness? How do I 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:25.840 create a show, a display, a representation that really really 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.400 speaks to the fact that I am not here alone, 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:36.480 that every ancestor of me, and you is speaking through me, 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:41.080 right now, how do I do that? It's a very 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.800 very strange question to ask yourself, But that's what happens 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.120 to you know that very well. It just you have 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.560 to take responsibility. So what did I do? I did 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:58.720 nothing to my hair. I'll say it again, I did 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:04.760 nothing to my hair. If I leave my hair alone, 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.160 it will reach for the sky on all sides, it 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.520 will grow, and it will flourish, and it will be 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.960 just as fluffy and as big and grand as it 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.360 can possibly be. That's the reason I grew my hair out. 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.240 That's the reason my hair is long, right now, That's 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.240 the reason why I'll keep it long. This is a 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.680 lifelong commitment, just like you know people that put locks 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:25.599 in their hair and so forth. That's the reason for 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.760 my hair. It's that important to me. It's that important 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.120 to me. No one, there's not a person in the 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:37.200 world that could tell me to shave my head because 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:38.840 my hairstyle is inappropriate. 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:40.079 Right. 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.680 They could try, but it wouldn't fly. But partly because 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:50.440 I have the ability to have the mobility rather, I 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.080 can make my reality in a way that's a little 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.480 bit easier than other people can right, and so there 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:03.600 are a lot of people who apps don't have that luxury. 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:07.160 And now we're going to talk about the Crown Act. 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.400 So I'll read this. This comes from nbcnews dot com. 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:16.280 It's written by Janelle Griffith. The House of Representatives passed 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:20.280 the Crown Act, which would ban hair related discrimination. The 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.760 measure HR twenty one sixteen passed in a vote of 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.040 two hundred and thirty five to one hundred and eighty 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:31.040 nine along party lines. Let's keep an eye out for 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:32.520 that one to eighty nine because I think it might 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:37.320 come up again. It was introduced by Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:41.880 who was a Democrat from New Jersey. Crown stands for 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:47.760 creating a respectful and open world for natural hair, and 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:52.240 the Act prohibits discrimination based on an individual's texture or 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.160 style of hair. The bill now goes to the Senate. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.400 The legislation states that quote routinely, people of atri can 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:04.760 dissent are deprived of educational and employment opportunities for wearing 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:11.439 their hair in natural or protective hairstyles such as locks, cornrows, twists, braids, bontu, knots, 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:16.959 or afros. Quote here we are today standing on behalf 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.680 of those individuals, whether my colleagues on the other side 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.200 recognize it or not, who are discriminated against as children 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.520 in school, as adults who are trying to get jobs, 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.560 individuals who are trying to get housing, individuals who simply 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.480 want access to public accommodations and to be beneficiaries of 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:38.000 federally funded programs. Watson Coleman said in remarks on the 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:44.640 House floor Friday morning, this demonstrates to Bill's necessity, She said, 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.520 because there are people in positions of authority quote who 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.760 think because your hair is kinky, it is braided, it 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.120 is a notce, or it is not straight and blonde 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.880 and light brown, that you somehow are not worthy of 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.880 access to those issues end quote. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:00.120 Oh. 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:05.800 She added, that's discrimination. There's no logical reason that anyone 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.840 should be discriminated against on any level because of the 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.240 texture of their hair or the style of their hair. 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:17.200 Watson Coleman said, I want to take a moment here 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:34.000 before I continue. Katanji Brown Jackson is uh when she 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:38.760 was sitting in those confirmation hearings regal as she is 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:45.360 wearing what is now, according to this a protected hairstyle, 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.800 looking as natural as she wants to be. She looks 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:58.400 like God. Think about that. And there are people who 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:04.920 are not accustomed to seeing what a natural human being 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.800 looks like. Remember the first human beings that you could 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.880 call a human being looked exactly like that woman, and 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.679 they were their hair exactly like that woman. Right, These 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.360 hairstyles aren't ancient. Before the first human being had the 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.480 first mutation to create the first blue eye, human beings 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.120 look just like that. That is the natural state of 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.520 a human being. This hair that I wear on my 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:34.000 head is the natural hair of a human being. Everything else. 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:35.960 Is a. 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:42.840 Derivative of this. This is the natural. Now, because we 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:51.840 live in a euro Centric society that centers whiteness as 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:57.520 the norm, we have to describe our hair, black hair, 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.040 as ethnic hair. But the truth is our hair is 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:09.400 just hair by definition, the platonic ideal, the very first, 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:14.200 the prototype. And I think it's important to say that, 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.400 not because I feel like someone is better than the 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.240 other or anything like that. That's not my way. If 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.080 you listen to the show, you know that that's not 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.680 who I am. We're all here together, we're all meant 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.600 to love each other, you know. But there are certain 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:30.520 truths that need to be said, and this is the 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:37.360 place where we have to say them. Right. So if 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.760 you're listening today, I also want to implore you to 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:48.360 rethink concepts like that that you may have in your mind. 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.960 Rethink them. You know, I grew up in the same 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.120 society as you and as everyone else, very Eurocentric. You know, 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:00.120 if it's white, it's right. You know, so no one 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.920 who thinks that is wrong or bad. That's just kind 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.040 of the world that was created for us to grow 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:11.080 up in. Right. And we call the institutions that reinforce 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:16.720 those ideas white supremacist institutions, right, But we don't. That's 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:23.320 not us saying that the individuals who have been made 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.440 to think these things are themselves white supremacists, because then 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.240 that would make me a white supremacist. Right. And if 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.520 that's true, then it's true for me. And if it's 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:37.160 not true, then we all have to recognize that there 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.520 are institutions that exist outside of us that have had 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:47.840 a degree of influence over us. Right. But it's very 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:52.480 important if I say nothing else, that I say that 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:57.560 this hair is hair and every other type of hair 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:02.280 is other hair. It's important that you know that. Again, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.960 I'm not saying it's better. I'm saying it's the original. 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:08.879 Now I'll continue my backque, did you want to jump in? 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:16.159 No, I actually didn't. For our listeners that can't see you, 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.640 they can't really understand how personal it is, and not 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.960 just for you, but you have a son that rocks 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:28.399 a big, beautiful afro to about it, and really it 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.720 is really important for people to be able to hear 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.760 it from a perspective that's firsthand. Yeah, my hair isn't 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.160 very long. It used to be. I we're braids in college. 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:41.200 Haven't had the patience to grow my hair back out 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.960 since then, and quite frankly, my hair does not look 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:49.240 as glorious as Ramses does when it is long. So 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.080 I think you are a uniquely qualified person to speak 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:54.240 on this topic, and it was important for people to 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.640 be able to hear it from such a first account 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:57.920 and personal point of view. 0:17:58.840 --> 0:17:59.520 Oh, thank you for that. 0:17:59.600 --> 0:17:59.840 Cue. 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:04.240 Well, in that case, I'll continue without naming him. She 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.080 referred to Andrew Johnson, a black varsity high school wrestler 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:11.119 in New Jersey with locks who was forced in twenty 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.840 eighteen to make a choice cut his hair or forfeit 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.359 his match. Quote. This bill is vitally important. She said. 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.280 It is important to the young girls and young boys 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:23.960 who have to cut their hair in the middle of 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.919 a wrestling match in front of everyone, because a white 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:32.239 referee says that your hair is inappropriate to engage in 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:36.720 your match. Quote. The Biden administration this week said it 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.320 quote strongly supports and quote the Crown Act and looks 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.320 forward to working with the Congress to enact this legislation 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.919 and ensure that it is effectively implemented. More than a 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.399 dozen states, including New Jersey and New York, had passed 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.159 versions of the Crown Act. California was the first date 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:57.880 to do so. House Majority Leader Steiny Hoyer, a Democrat 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.560 from Maryland, told his colleagues Friday that the bill should 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:06.520 have unanimous support. Fourteen Republicans voted for the bill. Good 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:12.000 a military took steps to inherit discrimination last year, said Hoyer, 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:16.040 who is white. If anybody thinks this isn't a real issue, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.560 obviously the military thought it was an issue, and it 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:23.240 was an important enough issue that they took action. He 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.760 said it was disappointing that one hundred and eighty eight 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.399 Republicans opposed the legislation when it was recently brought to 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:34.400 the floor under an expedited process. Like Watson Coleman, other 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.679 proponents of the bill mentioned a number of children directly 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:42.000 and indirectly who drew national attention after they were reprimanded 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:47.080 for wearing their hair in braids, dreadlocks, or other protective styles. 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:51.760 Before a vote was taken, a number of black and 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.960 African American legislators spoke of having been discriminated against because 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.320 of their hair. I do want to mention that I 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.080 have not been discriminated against because of my hair that 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:04.919 I know of, because the way the rest of that 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.040 story goes is I finished college and then my first 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:11.840 job was on a hip hop radio station KKFR and Phoenix, 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:15.720 Arizona Power ninety eight point three it's now called and 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:21.280 so I went into a welcome space. But imagine having 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:26.080 that same experience, right I was going to go into 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.400 corporate law, That's why I was in business school. Imagine 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:33.399 having that same experience coming from Compton, you know, and 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:36.960 realizing that twenty is the magic number. When I get 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:42.320 to twenty years old, I'm going to celebrate I've made it. 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:45.080 I get to twenty years old, I'm in this space 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.800 where there is no blackness. What can I do? What 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.160 can I do now that I'm a man? No one 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.240 can tell me what to do with my clothes, my hair. 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:57.760 I've made it. What can I do? I can check 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.720 two boxes off right here, maybe more to grow my hair. 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.560 Imagine if I walked into a law firm and they 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:09.800 look at my hair, the most natural hair style on 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:14.240 earth that has ever existed, and they say it's inappropriate 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:18.520 and that I can't work there, or if I want 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:20.880 to work there, I have to shave my hair right. 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:23.399 It is something that they deem is more appropriate. So 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:25.919 that was never my reality, but as we're seeing for 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.200 a lot of people that has been I'll continue quote. 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:31.320 As a black woman who loves my braids, I know 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.919 what it's like to feel isolated because of how I 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:40.040 wear my hair. Representative Corey Bush said on the house floor, quote, 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:42.520 this is the last time we say no more to 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:44.840 Black people being made to feel like we have to 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.760 straighten our hair or in order to be deemed professional. 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.760 Representative Gwen Moore said someone had told a previous employer 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.399 that she was an embarrassment because of the way her 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:58.080 hair looked. Wow. She accused some of her colleagues, such 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.440 as Representative Jim Jordan, or republic from Ohio, of avoiding 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:05.160 the conversation about discrimination that disproportionately affects black people. Jordan 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:07.880 said Friday that he wanted to focus on gas prices, 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.240 inflation and issues of importance to the American people and 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.960 accused Democrats of distancing from those issues. And response to 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.399 Jordan's remarks, Representative Al Green, who was a Democrat from Texas, 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.760 said quote, black people are American people too, and when 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:24.439 you say the American people don't want it, you cannot 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.320 exclude black people. Black people would have this beyond the floor. 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:36.640 This is a kitchen table issue in black households. Que 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:45.200 you have a daughter, your daughter will have black hair. 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:52.080 She does have black hair, excuse me. And as we 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:56.440 know pretty much around the world, hairstyles are a lot 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:02.760 more important for women than for men. And so with 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:12.000 that said, and with my children also knowing that this 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:18.320 is taking place in the world, knowing that we're making 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:23.920 moves to protect the natural state of being for human beings, 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:28.639 which should exist on a federal level right regardless of 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:32.280 what these one hundred and eighty eight Republicans are suggesting 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:36.200 to know that that's the world that we're moving into. 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:38.840 I think that's a beautiful thing. I think it's a 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:47.720 wonderful thing. And for me to know that this is 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:52.640 our reality, it makes me feel optimistic. Oftentimes on the show, 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.600 we're not able to feel that way, and it makes 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:57.720 me feel hopeful, and it makes me feel like we're 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:00.760 growing closer as brothers and sisters in this country and 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:04.360 on this planet. And so I'm happy that I got 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:07.760 to share this story about the Crown Act and a 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:10.000 little bit of my story too. It's always kind of 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:11.680 fun when I get to do that on the show. 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:15.840 So so yeah, onward and upward. Let's keep it going, y'all. 0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:26.800 Now it's time for the Way Black History Fact. Today's 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:31.560 Way Black History Fact comes from cnn dot com, and 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:35.680 we are going to talk about the all Black Women's 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:39.320 World War II unit, which is going to be awarded 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:46.520 the Congressional Gold Medal. Much of this article was contributed 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:53.840 by Eric Levinson, neilam Borah, and Redeka Meira All of CNN. 0:24:54.240 --> 0:24:57.280 All right, I will read, oh wait too, I think 0:24:57.280 --> 0:25:01.800 your mic is off. I'll read an all Black Women's 0:25:01.920 --> 0:25:05.160 Army Corps unit that sorted millions of pieces of mail 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:08.320 and unheated warehouses during World War Two will finally be 0:25:08.359 --> 0:25:12.840 awarded a Congressional Gold Medal decades after the fact. President 0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:15.720 Joe Biden signed a bill into law on March fourteenth 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:18.080 that awards a Congressional Gold Medal to the women of 0:25:18.119 --> 0:25:21.840 the six eight hundred and eighty eight Central Postal Directory 0:25:21.920 --> 0:25:27.119 Battalion nickname six Triple eight. The honor was granted quote 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:31.320 in recognition of their pioneering military service, devotion to duty, 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:34.600 and contributions to increase the morale of personnel station in 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:38.399 the European theater of operations during World War Two. The 0:25:38.440 --> 0:25:45.359 bill states. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Jerry Morgan, 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:48.960 a Republican from Kansas, and Jackie Rosen, a Democrat from Nevada, 0:25:49.200 --> 0:25:54.520 was passed by the Senate in April and the House 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:58.680 last monment. The sixth Triple eight was a unit made 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:00.960 up of about eight hundred fifty ye black women who 0:26:01.000 --> 0:26:04.120 were tasked with overcoming a massive backlog of mail. According 0:26:04.119 --> 0:26:06.360 to the Department of Defense, the unit traveled to Great 0:26:06.359 --> 0:26:08.920 Britain in nineteen forty five, surviving encounters with Nazi U 0:26:08.960 --> 0:26:12.080 boats and a German rocket explosion along the way before 0:26:12.119 --> 0:26:14.919 spending months sorting through mail and packages stacked to the 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:18.359 ceiling in unheated warehouses. According to the U. S. Army 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:22.480 Center of Military History, they adopted the model no Mail 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:25.800 low morale. The units set up a new mail tracking 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:28.800 system and cleared the six month backlog of mail in 0:26:28.920 --> 0:26:31.200 just three months. The center said. By the end of 0:26:31.240 --> 0:26:34.280 the war, the unit processed about seventeen million pieces of mail. 0:26:34.520 --> 0:26:37.920