In February, New York City banned discrimination based on a person's natural hair. That the law was even necessary says a lot about the mistreatment of black people at work, school and in public.
People of color are often held to an arbitrary standard of straightened hair regardless of how theirs grows naturally.
And while arbitrary, the consequences for styling one's hair naturally are very real. It's gotten children kicked out of school, forced athletes to cut their hair and generally forced many people of color to align a very personal part of their identity with something unnatural.
In this episode of "The Day Ahead," Ashley Holt explores how far we still have to go even as natural hair is beginning to be accepted and protected. She spoke with Brittany Noble Jones, a former reporter for WJTV in Jackson, Mississippi, who says she believes the TV station fired her for filing discrimination complaints. Holt also interviews celebrity natural hairstylist Vernon Francois."
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