-
I am from the South Side of Chicago,
-
and in seventh grade,
-
I had a best friend named Jenny
-
who lived on the Southwest
Side of Chicago.
-
Jenny was white,
-
and if you know anything about
the segragated demographics of Chicago,
-
you know that there are not
too many black people
-
who live on the Southwest Side of Chicago.
-
But Jenny was my girl,
-
and so we would hang out
every so often after school
-
and on the weekends.
-
And so one day we were
hanging out in her living room,
-
talking about 13-year-old things,
-
and Jenny's little sister Rosie
was in the room with us,
-
and she was sitting behind me
just kind of playing with my hair,
-
and I wasn't thinking too much
about what she was doing.
-
But at a pause in the conversation,
-
Rosie tapped me on the shoulder.
-
She said, "Can I ask you a question?"
-
I said, "Yeah, Rosie, sure."
-
"Are you black?"
-
(Laughter)
-
The room froze.
-
Silence.
-
Jenny and Rosie's mom
was not too far away.
-
She was in the kitchen,
-
and she overheard the conversation,
-
and she was mortified.
-
She said, "Rosie! You can't ask
people questions like that."
-
And Jenny was my friend,
-
and I know she was really embarrassed.
-
I felt kind of bad for her,
-
but actually I was not offended.
-
I figured it wasn't Rosie's fault
that in her 10 short years on this earth,
-
living on the Southwest Side of Chicago,
-
she wasn't 100 percent sure
what a black person looked like.
-
That's fair.
-
But what was more surprising to me was,
-
in all of this time I had spent
with Jenny and Rosie's family,
-
hanging out with them,
-
playing with them,
-
even physically interacting with them,
-
it was not until Rosie
put her hands in my hair
-
that she thought to ask me if I was black.
-
That was the first time I would realize
-
how big of a role the texture of my hair
played in confirming my ethnicity,
-
but also that it would play a key role
in how I'm viewed by others in society.
-
Garrett A. Morgan and
Madame C.J. Walker were pioneers
-
of the black hair-care and beauty
industry in the early 1900s.
-
They're best known as the inventors
of chemically-based hair cremes
-
and heat straightening tools
designed to permanently,
-
or semi-permanently,
-
alter the texture of black hair.
-
Oftentimes when we think about
the history of blacks in America,
-
we think about the heinous acts
-
and numerous injustices
that we experienced
-
as people of color because
of the color of our skin,
-
when in fact,
-
in post-Civil War America,
-
it was the hair of an
African-American male or female
-
that was the known as the most
"telling feature" of negro status,
-
more so than the color of the skin.
-
And so before they were staples
-
of the multi-billion dollar
hair-care industry,
-
our dependency on tools and products,
-
like the hair relaxer
and the pressing comb,
-
were more about our survival
and advancement as a race
-
in post-slavery America.
-
Over the years,
-
we grew accustomed to this idea
-
that straighter and longer
hair meant better and more beautiful.
-
We became culturally obsessed
-
with this idea of having
what we like to call ...
-
"Good hair."
-
This essentially means
the looser the curl pattern,
-
the better the hair.
-
And we let these institutionalized ideas
form a false sense of hierarchy
-
that would determine what
was considered a good grade of hair
-
and what was not.
-
What's worse
-
is that we let these false ideologies
invade our perception of ourselves,
-
and they still continue
to infect our cultural identity
-
as African-American women today.
-
So what did we do?
-
We went to the hair salon every
six-to-eight weeks,
-
without fail,
-
to subject our scalps to harsh
straightening chemicals
-
beginning at a very young age --
-
sometimes eight, 10 --
-
that would result in hair loss,
-
bald spots,
-
sometimes even burns on the scalp.
-
We fry our hair at temperatures
of 450 degrees farhenheit or higher
-
almost daily,
-
to maintain the straight look.
-
Or we simply cover our hair up
with wigs and weaves,
-
only to let our roots breathe in private
-
where no one knows what's really
going on under there.
-
We adopted these practices
in our own communities,
-
and so it's no wonder why today
the typical ideal vision
-
of a professional black woman,
-
especially in corporate America,
-
tends to look like this,
-
rather than like this.
-
And she certainly doesn't look like this.
-
In September of this year,
-
a federal court ruled it lawful
for a company to discriminate
-
against hiring an empoloyee based
on if she or he wears dreadlocks.
-
In the case,
-
the hiring manager in Mobile, Alabama,
-
is on record as saying,
-
"I'm not saying yours are messy,
-
but ...
-
you know what I'm talking about."
-
Well, what was she talking about?
-
Did she think that they were ugly?
-
Or maybe they were just
a little too Afro-centric
-
and pro-black-looking for her taste.
-
Or maybe it's not about Afro-centricity,
-
and it's more just about it being a little
too "urban" for the professional setting.
-
Perhaps she had a genuine concern
in that they looked "scary"
-
and that they would "intimdate"
the clients and their customer base.
-
All of these orse are ones that are
too often associated with the stigma
-
attached to natural hairstyles.
-
And this ...
-
this has got to change.
-
In 2013,
-
a white paper published by the Deloitte
Center for Leadership and Inclusion,
-
studied 3,000 individuals
in executive leadership roles
-
on the concept of covering
in the workplace
-
based on appearance, advocacy,
affiliation and association.
-
When thinking about
appearance-based covering,
-
the study showed that 67 percent
of women of color cover in the workplace
-
based on their appearnace.
-
Of the total respondents who
admitted to appearance-based covering,
-
82 percent said that it was "somewhat
to extremely important"
-
for them to do so for their
professional advancement.
-
Now this is Ursala Burns.
-
She is the first African-American,
female CEO of a Fortune 500 Company,
-
of Xerox.
-
She's known by her signature look,
-
the one that you see here.
-
A short, nicely trimmed,
well-manicured afro.
-
Ms. Burns is what we like to call
a "natural girl."
-
And she is paving the way
and showing what's possible
-
for African American women
seeking to climb the corporate ladder
-
but still wish to wear natural hairstyles.
-
But today the majority
of African-American women
-
who we still look to as leaders,
icons and role models,
-
still opt for a straight hair look.
-
Now, maybe it's because they want to --
-
this is authentically
how they feel best --
-
but maybe --
-
and I bet --
-
that a part of them felt like they had to
-
in order to reach the level of success
that they have attained today.
-
There is a natural hair movement
that is sweeping the country,
-
and also in some places in Europe.
-
Millions of women are exploring what
it means to transition to natural hair,
-
and they're cutting off years and years
of dry, damaged ends
-
in order to restore
their natural curl pattern.
-
I know because I have been an advocate
and an ambassador for this movement
-
for roughly the last three years.
-
After 27 years of excessive heat
and harsh chemicals,
-
my hair was beginning to show
extreme signs of wear and tear.
-
It was breaking off,
-
it was thinning,
-
looking just extremely dry and brittle.
-
All those years of chasing
that conventional image of beauty
-
that we saw earlier,
-
was finally beginning to take its toll.
-
I wanted to do something about it,
-
and so I started what I call
the "no heat challenge,"
-
where I would refrain from using
heat styling tools on my hair for 6 months
-
and like a good millenial,
-
I documented it on social media.
-
(Laughter)
-
I documented as I reluctantly cut off
three-to-four inches of my beloved hair.
-
I documented as I struggled to master
these natural hairstyles,
-
and also as I struggled to embrace them
-
and think that they actually looked good.
-
Not Synced
And I documented as my hair texture
slowly began to change.
-
Not Synced
By sharing this journey openly,
-
Not Synced
I learned that I was not the only
woman going through this,
-
Not Synced
and that in fact there were thousands
and thousands of other women
-
Not Synced
who were longing to do the same.
-
Not Synced
So they would reach out to me
and they would say,
-
Not Synced
"Cheyenne,
-
Not Synced
how did you do that natural hairstyle
that I saw you with the other day?
-
Not Synced
What new products have you started using
-
Not Synced
that might be a little better
for my hair texture
-
Not Synced
as it begins to change.
-
Not Synced
Or what are some
of the natural hair routines
-
Not Synced
that I should begin to adopt
to slowly restore the health of my hair?"
-
Not Synced
But I also found that there were
a large number of women
-
Not Synced
who were extremely hesistant
to take that first step
-
Not Synced
because they were paralyzed by fear.
-
Not Synced
Fear of the unknown --
-
Not Synced
what would they now look like?
-
Not Synced
How would they feel about themselves
with these natural hairstyles?
-
Not Synced
And most importantly to them,
-
Not Synced
how would others view them?
-
Not Synced
Over the last three years
of having numerous conversations
-
Not Synced
with friends of mine and also complete
strangers from around the world,
-
Not Synced
I learned some really important things
-
Not Synced
about how African-American women
identify with their hair.
-
Not Synced
And so when I think back
to that hiring manager in Mobile, Alabama,
-
Not Synced
I'd say, "Actually no,
-
Not Synced
we don't know what you're talking about.
-
Not Synced
But here are some things that we do know.
-
Not Synced
We know that when black women
embrace their love for their natural hair,
-
Not Synced
it helps to undo generations of teaching
-
Not Synced
that black in its natural state
is not beautiful,
-
Not Synced
or something to be hidden or covered up.
-
Not Synced
We know that black women
express their idividuality,
-
Not Synced
and experience feelings of empowerment
-
Not Synced
by experimenting with different
hairstyles regularly.
-
Not Synced
And we also know that when we're invited
to wear our natural hair in the workplace,
-
Not Synced
it reinforces that we are uniquely valued,
-
Not Synced
and thus helps us to flourish
and advance professionally."
-
Not Synced
I leave you with this.
-
Not Synced
In a time of racial and social tension,
-
Not Synced
embracing this movement,
-
Not Synced
and others like this,
-
Not Synced
help us to rise above the confines
of the status quo.
-
Not Synced
So when you see a woman with braids
or locks draping down her back,
-
Not Synced
or you notice your colleague who has
stopped straightening her hair to work,
-
Not Synced
do no simply approach her and admire
and ask her if you can touch it --
-
Not Synced
(Laughter)
-
Not Synced
Really appreciate her.
-
Not Synced
Applaud her.
-
Not Synced
Hey, even high-five her if that's what
you feel so inclined to do.
-
Not Synced
Because this --
-
Not Synced
this is more than about a hairstyle.
-
Not Synced
It's about self-love and self-worth.
-
Not Synced
It's about being brave enough
-
Not Synced
not to fold under the pressure
of others' expectations.
-
Not Synced
And about knowing that making
the decision to stray from the norm
-
Not Synced
does not define who we are,
-
Not Synced
but it simply reveals who we are.
-
Not Synced
And finally,
-
Not Synced
being brave is easier
-
Not Synced
when we can count on
the compassion of others.
-
Not Synced
So after today,
-
Not Synced
I certainly hope that we can count on you.
-
Not Synced
Thank you.
-
Not Synced
(Applause)