Speaker 1: Native Landpod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Speaker 1: Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Governor Shapiro for that warm wealth.
Speaker 4: But somehow a neighbor of mine, and I tell him
Speaker 4: this when I see him, he says, you know, your
Speaker 4: hair looks really nice like that.
Speaker 5: You don't have to wear a street.
Speaker 4: And it was that conversation at sixty first in Baltimore
Speaker 4: that gave me the confidence to try something new for myself.
Speaker 4: And I had no idea at the time that there
Speaker 4: would ever be an opportunity to change the law in
Speaker 4: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And I'll tell you my mother
Speaker 4: when I left the house at now, what's this law
Speaker 4: really going to do? How is it going to really
Speaker 4: help people? And how is it going to change things
Speaker 4: in Pennsylvania? And I had to run because I.
Speaker 5: Was a little late.
Speaker 4: But Mom, if you're watching, this is going to help
Speaker 4: people by making sure that wherever you work or wherever
Speaker 4: you're applying for a job, they can't look at your
Speaker 4: hair and size you up, not based on your qualifications
Speaker 4: and all of the professional development you have and all
Speaker 4: of your education.
Speaker 3: They will not look at your hair and decide you
Speaker 3: can't work here.
Speaker 5: That's right.
Speaker 4: They will not look at your hair and decide you
Speaker 4: don't belong in this c suite. They will not look
Speaker 4: at your hair and say you can't be in the boardroom.
Speaker 4: So I don't know if the headlines get to Heaven,
Speaker 4: but if they do, I hope my grandmother gets to
Speaker 4: see this moment.
Speaker 5: Welcome home, y'all.
Speaker 1: It is an honor to be with you after the holiday.
Speaker 1: I hope you ate well and we're able to find
Speaker 1: something to celebrate in such a challenging.
Speaker 5: Time in this country. This was one of mine.
Speaker 1: Recently, the Kronacts just passed and was signed into law
Speaker 1: by Governor Joshapiro in Pennsylvania right before the holiday on
Speaker 1: November twenty fifth, and I am thrilled to be able
Speaker 1: to have this conversation today with facts.
Speaker 5: There's a lot going on out there.
Speaker 1: Talking about this law and why it matters, and you
Speaker 1: really need to be talking about hair discrimination, and yes,
Speaker 1: we actually do. Case inpoint is one particular example that
Speaker 1: struck my core.
Speaker 5: In Texas.
Speaker 1: There's a young man by the name of Daryl George,
Speaker 1: and I want you to hear this story.
Speaker 6: Seventeen year old Texas High school student Darryl George will
Speaker 6: continue in school suspension Monday after his school says he's
Speaker 6: in violation of their dress code for having dreadlocks. George
Speaker 6: attends Barber's Hill High School near Houston, where the dress
Speaker 6: code includes condition that boys' hair should not extend past
Speaker 6: their eyebrows or below their ears. Darryl's mother, Darysha George,
Speaker 6: has said that her son's been suspended since August thirty first,
Speaker 6: when he was first told he needed to cut his hair.
Speaker 6: It's the same week Texas has passed the Crown Act,
Speaker 6: which prohibits employers in schools from discriminating and penalizing people
Speaker 6: because of hair textures or protective styles such as dreadlocks
Speaker 6: or braids. Texas is one of twenty four states that
Speaker 6: have enacted a version of this law. The school has
Speaker 6: argued that their dress code does not violate the law
Speaker 6: because it does not mention length. They also say it
Speaker 6: is designed to prevent distractions and still discipline and teach authority.
Speaker 6: The George family argues the policy as prejudice against its
Speaker 6: black students.
Speaker 1: So in that story, you heard that at that point
Speaker 1: twenty four states have passed their versions of the Crown Act.
Speaker 1: Now after Pennsylvania signed their built into law that leaves
Speaker 1: us at twenty seven states. I I want you to
Speaker 1: hear from the creator, the strategists behind this very very
Speaker 1: powerful work with this clip and then something right after morning.
Speaker 7: I am doctor azilib Asamoa, and I am known as
Speaker 7: the Crown Act Champion and scholar. If a smile does
Speaker 7: not give it away, I am overjoyed to be here today,
Speaker 7: especially to enact something that is so near and dear
Speaker 7: to my heart, in the city where I.
Speaker 3: Have lived and grown and not too far.
Speaker 8: Away from my alma mater at some point, university that
Speaker 8: helped prepare me to do the work I have done
Speaker 8: since I left the nest. This public policy campaign is
Speaker 8: my brainchild and a nationwide effort I have led since
Speaker 8: twoenty eighteen. Determining it was necessary to change the law
Speaker 8: to help redress the long standing and problematic practice of
Speaker 8: racial discrimination in the form.
Speaker 5: Of hair discrimination.
Speaker 8: I subsequently developed the national legislative, social impact and coalition
Speaker 8: building strategies for this movement because for too long, a
Speaker 8: myopic notion of professionalism and Eurocentric standards of beauty have
Speaker 8: perpetuated racial inequity and exclusion.
Speaker 3: Too many black children have.
Speaker 8: Been suspended and missed what should be valuable instruction time
Speaker 8: because their hair worn in ways that are aligned with
Speaker 8: their racial identity have been deemed a violation of school rules. See.
Speaker 3: Too many black adults, as the Governor.
Speaker 8: Shared, have been passed over for promotions, had offers of
Speaker 8: employment rescinded, and even been fired for showing up authentically.
Speaker 8: And with an undeniable correlation between the use of chemical
Speaker 8: relaxers and the increased likelihood of developing uterine fibroids and cancer,
Speaker 8: the cost of conformity is simply too expensive. This is
Speaker 8: my baby, but even as a policymaker and architect, it's
Speaker 8: something I am very clear I could not deliver on
Speaker 8: my own and I genuinely could not dream of a
Speaker 8: better team or I've been working with for decades, Senator
Speaker 8: Benson Hughes. Because black men in politics matter. Yes, Yes
Speaker 8: to my dear sister and service who I am thrilled
Speaker 8: to call Madam Speaker, and to my sister and social action.
Speaker 1: Better joining us now is doctor Azua b Is Samoa,
Speaker 1: who is again the brainchild behind the Crown Act and
Speaker 1: is joining us today. I also get to call her
Speaker 1: sister've been proud of this work for so many years.
Speaker 1: Azuauld talk about the path to fifty states. I know
Speaker 1: we're at twenty seven, and you know it's just like
Speaker 1: when somebody first gets married and their parents like so
Speaker 1: when the kids coming right. So you got the real
Speaker 1: fie in the losses Uh in Philadelphia, I mean in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: but it was signed actually in a shop in Philly.
Speaker 1: I know that that is close. It's so important to
Speaker 1: you given your connection to the state. But talk about
Speaker 1: where you see the path going forward, especially in the
Speaker 1: age we live in right now.
Speaker 8: Well, first, let me just thank you for lifting the issue.
Speaker 8: It is because people talk about it that it is
Speaker 8: so successful. As you shared, it is my brain child.
Speaker 8: But as you saw in the clip, it is not
Speaker 8: something that I can do alone. So I conceptualize the idea,
Speaker 8: developed a national legislative, social impact and coalition building strategy
Speaker 8: for the movement, and have been leading it since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 8: A couple things are important. One it is the twenty
Speaker 8: eighth state. I should note I to pass a version
Speaker 8: of the Crown Act. And I say version because not
Speaker 8: every state actually has the Crown Act. I get to
Speaker 8: say which ones are and are not the chron Act
Speaker 8: or a couple don't. But twenty eight states have outlawed
Speaker 8: race based hair discrimination in some form or fashion, meaning
Speaker 8: literally laws. It is important to note a couple of
Speaker 8: things as well. We know that we don't have the votes.
Speaker 8: I only deal in electoral politics because I can about
Speaker 8: the implications related to policy.
Speaker 3: So we got to work to.
Speaker 8: Elect people who will support a Crown Act or a
Speaker 8: reparations or whatever issue you know is important to a
Speaker 8: specific demographic.
Speaker 3: That is who we work to elect.
Speaker 8: And so again, the connection between politics and policy needs
Speaker 8: to be known and can't be understated. This is a
Speaker 8: strategy that is local, state, and federal. I have not
Speaker 8: yet been able to pass it in the United States Senate.
Speaker 8: It is important to note that it has passed in
Speaker 8: the House twice. I have to lift the black men
Speaker 8: in the movement. Obviously this issue disproportionately impacts black women.
Speaker 8: But the two people I actually spoke to about this
Speaker 8: before it was introduced in any state anywhere was former
Speaker 8: Congressman Cedric Richmond and Senator Corey Booker. So I gotta
Speaker 8: always shout out the brothers as I did with Senator
Speaker 8: Vincent Hughes, who's my senator back in Philly.
Speaker 3: Local, state and federal.
Speaker 8: Where you do not have the votes on the federal level,
Speaker 8: we work on the state level, where we do not
Speaker 8: have the votes in the state legislature to pass it.
Speaker 3: We work at the local level.
Speaker 8: My goal is to extend statutory protection to our hair,
Speaker 8: explicitly categorizing hair as a racial characteristic, so that the
Speaker 8: maximum amount of coverage is obviously enacted and so more
Speaker 8: people are protected. As we saw on that clip, I
Speaker 8: had a naturally curly do today why and next week
Speaker 8: I will have Senegalese twists. So I am working to
Speaker 8: protect and preserve our rights to rock our crowns how
Speaker 8: we see fit.
Speaker 3: And again I thank you for lifting this issue in
Speaker 3: this movement.
Speaker 1: I I'm thrilled to do it. You know, it's fascinating
Speaker 1: that you said, you know, this is something that of
Speaker 1: course disproportionately impacts us. That is why I wanted to
Speaker 1: pull the clip of the young man Darryl George in Texas,
Speaker 1: because it also impacts young men first to know, and
Speaker 1: so one of the things that I think to your
Speaker 1: point about you know, the variations in our styles. When
Speaker 1: I was at CNN Azua, I had a conversation with
Speaker 1: the woman who was over contributors, and I had my
Speaker 1: hair done my cousin just bringing them up in cornrows.
Speaker 5: She wanted to see if she get the parts right
Speaker 5: or something. So I had corn.
Speaker 1: Rows when I went on air, and the number of
Speaker 1: black women who were like, thank you, sis, you know
Speaker 1: you're making such a statement, and I'm like, I didn't
Speaker 1: even I.
Speaker 3: Just you know, I'm just showing up.
Speaker 1: Two weeks after that, they came up with a standards
Speaker 1: document for me. And the standards document wasn't just about
Speaker 1: my makeup like it is for my white counterparts.
Speaker 5: It's about how my hair is going to be worn right.
Speaker 1: It needed to be blown out straight, you know, silk
Speaker 1: pressed type situation. And I was like, yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: doing that, y'all, not about to burn my curls out.
Speaker 5: And also I reserved the right to wear brads.
Speaker 1: It's little black girls who are watching on air right
Speaker 1: that expect to see themselves reflected authentically, So.
Speaker 5: I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1: Ended up being it wasn't a huge thing, but it
Speaker 1: was enough to have a conversation about, and that in
Speaker 1: and of itself annoyed me. There are many of our
Speaker 1: sister friends who cannot have that conversation and work and
Speaker 1: it be okay. And to that point, I want to
Speaker 1: play this particular clip from Megan Kelly. She had something
Speaker 1: to say about with Michelle Obama said, has.
Speaker 9: There ever been a more racist person? Lady, She's a racist.
Speaker 9: That's what we've learned about Michelle Obama. It was a
Speaker 9: slow reveal, like we started to learn. First we found
Speaker 9: out she doesn't like America, and then we found out
Speaker 9: on her show she doesn't like her husband, I mean
Speaker 9: at all. Then we started to find out she's really
Speaker 9: obsessed with herself, she's somewhat narcissistic, and then we found
Speaker 9: out she's a racist.
Speaker 3: She really can't stand white people.
Speaker 9: Every problem in her life is as a result of
Speaker 9: some white person who she imagines is judging her, Like
Speaker 9: we're actually spending time thinking about whether.
Speaker 3: Her hair is curly or straight. I had to do
Speaker 3: this for you, Michelle, on behalf of all whites. We
Speaker 3: have better things to do, So get over yourself.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's so delusional.
Speaker 1: So I want your reaction to that, And then I
Speaker 1: actually want to play the clip she's talking about where
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama dealt with this on her book tour.
Speaker 8: Initial thoughts, So reverse racism not a thing. The lack
Speaker 8: of education is very clear in that clip two. I
Speaker 8: have better things to do than to address a nonexistent problem.
Speaker 8: The policing of black bodies, the effort to control them,
Speaker 8: is something that has existed for as long as we've
Speaker 8: been here this go round, I should say, because we
Speaker 8: know we came before Columbus, that's known for this audience.
Speaker 8: But when they brought us here enslaved, they have desecrated
Speaker 8: our hair, They have referred to our hair.
Speaker 3: As fur and wool.
Speaker 8: We know that the problem predates all of us alive,
Speaker 8: because they created a law in Louisiana that required black
Speaker 8: women to cover our hair.
Speaker 3: Now, the claim was.
Speaker 8: Oh my gosh, it's so unsightly. We know that's not true.
Speaker 8: Your men are checking always have been. So to sit
Speaker 8: there and to suggest that people are making up problems,
Speaker 8: and I do this voluntarily. I have been funding this
Speaker 8: movement for years. This is my passion project. To suggest
Speaker 8: that I am out here working on something that you
Speaker 8: know is not a real problem is absurd, But again,
Speaker 8: so is shit.
Speaker 1: That's the full point in period so on that speaking
Speaker 1: of the absurdity of it all, because there are white
Speaker 1: people who have not only thought about it, but develop
Speaker 1: policies to keep our particular hairstyles and all of the
Speaker 1: creativity and beauty that comes with it out of boardrooms, courtrooms,
Speaker 1: school school, classrooms, all of the things. But this is
Speaker 1: what Michelle Obama had to say about our hair embrace.
Speaker 2: Let me explain something to white people. Our hair comes
Speaker 2: out of our head naturally in a curly pattern. So
Speaker 2: when we're straightening it to follow your beauty standards, we
Speaker 2: are trapped.
Speaker 3: By the straightness. That's why so many of us.
Speaker 2: Can't swim and we run away from the water. People
Speaker 2: won't go to the gym because we're trying to keep
Speaker 2: our hair straight. For y'all, it is exhausting, and it's
Speaker 2: so expensive, and it takes up so much time. Braids
Speaker 2: are for y'all, so we can work harder and focus
Speaker 2: on the work. So why do we need an act,
Speaker 2: an act of law to tell white folks to get
Speaker 2: out our hair. Don't don't tell me how to wear
Speaker 2: my hair, don't wonder about it, don't touch it, just don't.
Speaker 1: So solandro the song about it don't touch my hair.
Speaker 1: And she's not, of course, saying that we don't need
Speaker 1: the law. She's saying that we shouldn't need the law.
Speaker 1: I don't think the brains are for white people. I
Speaker 1: ain't never been for white people for me, but I
Speaker 1: disagree with some of this clip.
Speaker 5: But I do want to hear from you, doctor Azua.
Speaker 8: I think we are probably aligned and that I obviously
Speaker 8: reject the notion of conformity. I take issue with these
Speaker 8: Eurocentric standards of beauty that suggests that we must conform
Speaker 8: or again not be you know, upwardly mobile. They're always
Speaker 8: talking about bootstrapping, but then you you know, want to
Speaker 8: impose policies that you claim are you know, race neutral.
Speaker 8: But we know that that's not true, and so I
Speaker 8: don't subscribe to the thought that I have to. I
Speaker 8: do again, maintain the right to embrace the full versatility
Speaker 8: of my hair. I can go from one to another
Speaker 8: to another style all in the matter of a week,
Speaker 8: which is why again I am fighting to protect and
Speaker 8: preserve our right to do what we want to do.
Speaker 3: With our crowns.
Speaker 8: You mentioned something that's critically important as it relates to
Speaker 8: the child I call my son Darryl George, who came
Speaker 8: up here, by the way, never posted about it or
Speaker 8: really talked about it publicly, but I wanted him to
Speaker 8: feel the love because he was isolated. He was criminalized
Speaker 8: for rocking his locks. It was enraging on multiple fronts.
Speaker 8: There are so many violations with that school district level policy.
Speaker 8: Because the Act, the actual Crown Act, is law in Texas,
Speaker 8: so they have the accurate Crown A, not legislation inspired
Speaker 8: by it.
Speaker 3: But this school district sought.
Speaker 8: To impose a rule that infringes on people's rights on
Speaker 8: multiple fronts, including on the gender front. My dissertation is
Speaker 8: on this topic. So when I speak, I speak with authority,
Speaker 8: not just as a practitioner, but as a scholar. There
Speaker 8: is no credible research that suggests that the way one
Speaker 8: wears his or her hair is correlated with the ability
Speaker 8: to be able to be a good student, citizen, friend, scholar.
Speaker 8: So there's no research that suggests that that is the truth.
Speaker 8: What we have seen, however, when people want to side
Speaker 8: step or attempt to side step, they very clear law
Speaker 8: is We've seen people then come up with things like
Speaker 8: length the Crown Act is written properly. I work with
Speaker 8: brilliant attorneys to conduct research to ensure that the language
Speaker 8: could withstand, you know, any sort of jurisdictional scrutiny, and
Speaker 8: the Crown Act is written properly, but we've seen them
Speaker 8: use length as a proxy for race. So in that
Speaker 8: particular school district, which is the same one we should note,
Speaker 8: is the same school district that told DeAndre Arnold that
Speaker 8: he could not participate and his graduation exercises because he
Speaker 8: wore locks, which for him, given his father's identity, was
Speaker 8: a great source of ethnic pride. We've seen, you know,
Speaker 8: I think the world kind of collectively gasped, or at
Speaker 8: least members of our community did, watching a boy because
Speaker 8: the adultification of black children is a real thing in
Speaker 8: New Jersey. Who was forced to make a decision nobody
Speaker 8: really should have to make, but certainly no child, and
Speaker 8: that was to either allow for his identity to be
Speaker 8: attacked and his locks cut by someone with no regard
Speaker 8: for them, or to forfeit a match he had actually
Speaker 8: earned the right to participate in. We've seen it time
Speaker 8: and time again. Faithefity sent home in tears because she's
Speaker 8: rocking box braids, cooked twins. Massachusetts repeatedly punished in school
Speaker 8: suspension because they're rocking braids. This is not an imaginary problem.
Speaker 8: We have enough issues in this country that we don't
Speaker 8: need to pretend that racial discrimination in the form of
Speaker 8: hair discrimination is a thing if it is not. And
Speaker 8: so I get so sick and tired of people saying
Speaker 8: that's not a thing and bringing in their mullets and
Speaker 8: their mohawks and what have you, when I am being
Speaker 8: very clear that this is about racial discrimination, not hairstyles.
Speaker 8: If you want to wrap a lime green mullet, rock out,
Speaker 8: but that's not what the Crown Act is about. The
Speaker 8: Crown Act is about identifying our hair as a racial
Speaker 8: characteristic explicitly and to extend the statutory protection to natural
Speaker 8: hair and protective styles, which we know include you know,
Speaker 8: a lot's braids, twists, band two nots et cetera.
Speaker 3: This notion.
Speaker 8: That we are making up issues is problematic and in
Speaker 8: the case of Daryl George, his rights were violated and
Speaker 8: we continue to fight and will not stop until he
Speaker 8: is made whole, at least to the extent that it
Speaker 8: is possible, as it relates to him losing access to
Speaker 8: what was supposed to be what we call faith, which
Speaker 8: is a free and appropriate public education.
Speaker 5: I love it, AZEA. I want to do this next.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the Megan Kellys of the world feel comfortable engaging
Speaker 1: in the type of hateful discourse, misinformed discourse at that
Speaker 1: not only about our hair, but about our personhood. She's
Speaker 1: regularly attacking black women on her platform. As you said,
Speaker 1: reverse racism is not a thing, but sometimes there are
Speaker 1: black people on their side of the equation. I don't
Speaker 1: even call it the isle anymore because I don't know
Speaker 1: what it is now the math and math and over there.
Speaker 1: So as some of them over there that decide that
Speaker 1: we are the problem. And there is a black woman
Speaker 1: radio host by the name of Kathy. I don't know
Speaker 1: her last name, but she's a radio host in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: and she had this to say recently about the Crown
Speaker 1: Act and it passage. Nick is saying, we don't have
Speaker 1: the video, but I know there's a video because I
Speaker 1: maybe I pulled the wrong thing, but I'm gonna pull
Speaker 1: this video up. But the point is Kathy on this
Speaker 1: on this tweet, she went on with her full wig
Speaker 1: and it respectfully looks bad. It's Kathy Burnett. She said,
Speaker 1: black people like these because the supposed to be me.
Speaker 5: I think it's us because I like horn.
Speaker 1: So black people like these people, by the way, make
Speaker 1: it difficult for black people like me. When white people
Speaker 1: see me, they think they're talking to these black people here.
Speaker 1: So instead of talking to me about CAPEX and bad investments, infrastructure,
Speaker 1: real estate opportunities, they try talking to me about hair racism.
Speaker 1: You people are stupid, and so I wanted to bring
Speaker 1: this forward. This woman ran against doctor Oz in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. She says she's a homeschool a veteran. Let
Speaker 1: me just blow this up so you guys can just
Speaker 1: see what we're talking about. This is Kathy, and that's
Speaker 1: Kathy's wig there. So I don't know if this can
Speaker 1: help you, But maybe if Kathy set herself free and
Speaker 1: became black people like us, she wouldn't have to put
Speaker 1: that electrocution wig on her head. So anyway, but there
Speaker 1: are several Kathy's right, I mean, on their side of
Speaker 1: the equation. There are people who believe that us standing
Speaker 1: up for ourselves, looking for equitable outcomes in terms of
Speaker 1: how we present that we're being problematic in some way
Speaker 1: by not conforming to these standards.
Speaker 8: The idea of we can't talk about multiple issues is
Speaker 8: one that I obviously reject. Does that mean that, because
Speaker 8: you know I've been working on the crin ex since
Speaker 8: twenty eighteen, that I wasn't the senior advisor for Racial
Speaker 8: Equity at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Speaker 8: to these Secretary of Marshall Elphunge.
Speaker 3: No, it does not. Does it mean that I didn't
Speaker 3: draft a racial equity.
Speaker 8: Framework for the federal government on behalf of President Biden?
Speaker 3: No, it does not. Does it' mean that this is
Speaker 3: my only issue? It does not.
Speaker 8: The Crime Act is not my first, it is not
Speaker 8: even my last. It has high name recognition, and it's
Speaker 8: my baby, and I'm proud of it and I'm happy
Speaker 8: to talk about it. But this notion that you know,
Speaker 8: we can't fight for liberation on one front and you
Speaker 8: know also care about other issues is one that I
Speaker 8: simply just dismiss. Folks who seek proximity to whiteness that
Speaker 8: is their own challenge. I am also a licensed therapist.
Speaker 8: I invite her to reach out to me, because you know,
Speaker 8: the whole idea of self hatred is very real, and
Speaker 8: so if she's struggling with some sort of challenge. I'm
Speaker 8: happy to talk about that. We know that there are
Speaker 8: psychological harms that come as a result of being in
Speaker 8: this society for some people, certainly as a result of
Speaker 8: race based hair discrimination, economic impact of course, being fired
Speaker 8: for promotions in a society where we know that there
Speaker 8: are a racial and gender pay gaps, physical harm. I
Speaker 8: talked about it a little bit in terms of, you know,
Speaker 8: we'd have to probably go back and get at least
Speaker 8: a master's degree in chemistry to be able to read
Speaker 8: the ingredients on the back of a chemical relaxer, noting
Speaker 8: that there are disparities that are not up for discussion
Speaker 8: between the use of those relaxers and the increased likelihood
Speaker 8: of developing uterine cancer and fibroid and we know who
Speaker 8: disproportionately suffers from those This idea that we can't talk
Speaker 8: about one thing because we have other issues.
Speaker 3: We've been juggling multiple issues since.
Speaker 8: We arrived here, and so anybody who wants to push
Speaker 8: this whole reverse racism nonsense, which we know again is
Speaker 8: not a thing.
Speaker 3: You can't just make up your own definition.
Speaker 8: People who seek to say, you know, I am more
Speaker 8: than okay, Well, for some people is a political statement.
Speaker 8: For others, it is an accessory. For some it's a
Speaker 8: sense of cultural pride. But she certainly is not the
Speaker 8: authority on what we should be talking about as it
Speaker 8: relates to race based hair discrimination because clearly, again as
Speaker 8: you've shown her, wig requires attention.
Speaker 5: Oh not.
Speaker 1: Yes, and that's not the only week some of them
Speaker 1: look better than others. But I did invite kathy On
Speaker 1: to have this conversation, so I can understand why she
Speaker 1: doesn't believe that we can walk in che gum at
Speaker 1: the same time, are.
Speaker 5: I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you so much for your work
Speaker 1: on the Crown Act and beyond for all the things
Speaker 1: you do for us in so many spaces known and unknown.
Speaker 1: We are very grateful for you, even for those that
Speaker 1: don't know that they need your support like this is
Speaker 1: the right ear. We are grateful. So I love you,
Speaker 1: says I.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much, amazing day.
Speaker 8: And you must keep fighting the good fight on all
Speaker 8: the fronts that we do because we know that black
Speaker 8: liberation requires our collective effort.
Speaker 5: It absolutely does. I see some thank you, y'all.
Speaker 1: That's doctor Azu will be a samoas she is the
Speaker 1: creator of the Crown Act.
Speaker 5: She corrected me.
Speaker 1: It is not twenty seven states, it is twenty eight
Speaker 1: now that have passed some version of the Crown Act
Speaker 1: or have prevented racial discrimination by hair in those varying states.
Speaker 1: We know that there's still work to be done, and
Speaker 1: hair is just one of the challenges that black folks
Speaker 1: are facing in this country.
Speaker 5: So we will continue to five.
Speaker 1: We will continue to inform on this podcast and everywhere
Speaker 1: else we can. What I want you to encourage, what
Speaker 1: I want to encourage you all to do, is to
Speaker 1: please make sure you are staying informed of these issues.
Speaker 1: You never know how something may have traumatically impacted someone
Speaker 1: in your own neighborhood, on your own block, in your
Speaker 1: own family, in your state.
Speaker 5: If you don't find out.
Speaker 1: We should not make these blanket assumptions that why would
Speaker 1: they have time to do something as frivolous.
Speaker 5: Or as trivial as the Crown Act. It actually is
Speaker 5: a big deal.
Speaker 1: And again I would encourage you to talk to some
Speaker 1: of your sisters, some of your friends to see how
Speaker 1: hair discrimination has impacted them in some way. Yes, there
Speaker 1: had to be a Crown Act because there's racial discrimination
Speaker 1: around hair type in this country. Yes, Solange had to
Speaker 1: write a song about it called Don't Touch My Hair.
Speaker 5: Yes, many of us, from.
Speaker 1: People we don't know, have had our hair touched and
Speaker 1: we don't know why they wanted to see how the
Speaker 1: stuff felt. That is normally white people reaching out and
Speaker 1: touching someone that did not ask to be touched, and
Speaker 1: it's their hair. So yes, there are some things that
Speaker 1: we need to address in this country because what gives
Speaker 1: someone the right to violate your personal space, your boundary,
Speaker 1: to even have your hair touched?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama talks about being in the White House and
Speaker 1: feeling like she couldn't get braids the entire time she's there.
Speaker 1: There's a beauty standard this country has and we have
Speaker 1: to deal with that too. Why is it that braids
Speaker 1: aren't seen to be permissible in corporate America, in the
Speaker 1: halls of Congress, right, or even on air on some
Speaker 1: of your favorite networks. These are the types of conversations
Speaker 1: that we absolutely should have. It should not be a
Speaker 1: revolutionary act for you to wear your hair how you
Speaker 1: want to wear a hair. So today, as you go forth,
Speaker 1: I would encourage you all to do you the best way.
Speaker 1: You don't how to be bold, to be beautiful, to
Speaker 1: be bad Michael Jackson Bad.
Speaker 5: Oh kids, look it up.
Speaker 1: Because it's very, very important that we continue to exercise
Speaker 1: and embody the power that is our God given right.
Speaker 1: So until next time, y'all, welcome home. I'll see you
Speaker 1: selling my co hosts. Native Lampard is a production of
Speaker 1: Iheartrati in partnership with Reason Choice Media. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.