Wear Your Crown!

Black Hair & The Image of God

I get a lot of comments (some compliments, some complaints) about my hair. From my anecdotal research, the little kids at church seem to love it. A year and a half ago, I had an experience I hadn’t expected. My dad’s wife, here visiting for Christmas, asked, “Sean, when did you decide to wear your hair natural?”

I legit almost cried.

I’d never thought of it as “natural.” Just twists.

In that moment, something inside me opened it. My hair was natural. It was me. It was what I wanted. After 25-years of working in predominantly white spaces and wearing my hair in a style I thought white folks would find acceptable, I’d decided to allow my hair to be, well, black!

I’ve watched over the last few years as workplaces, and even worse, schools, have policed black folks hair. Even my 14-year old can’t wear braids at her school. The white, LatinX, and Asian students can’t either. Truth be told, they wouldn’t. At least they wouldn’t at the same rate. The simple reality is that existing structures police black hair because it’s black hair.

Don’t believe me?

According to a 2018 study, black women are 1.5Xs more likely to be sent home from their workplace because of their hair, 3.4Xs more likely to be perceived as “unprofessional” because of their hair, 83% more likely to report feeling judged for their appearance, and are more likely to reminded of corporate grooming policies than their white counterparts. You read that right. “Sent home!”

The picture is clear: Black people are widely judged by, and often prohibited from, wearing their hair naturally. That means black people are widely judged, and often prohibited from, being black.

That’s why The Twist w/ Sean Palmer supports passage of the CROWN Act. The CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” is a law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination, which is the denial of employment and educational opportunities because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including braids, locs, twists or bantu knots.

More than that, The Twist advocates a core (and early) Biblical truth - a truth which seems to be increasingly forgotten or deliberately obscured: All people are made in the image of God. And whenever you or I can amplify and dignify God’s image in others, it is not only good, but holy to do so. The Psalmist puts it this way:

You have made them (humankind) a little lower than the angels

and crowned them with glory and honor. Psalm 8.5

This is a pledge from the Eternal. Diminishing or dismissing this truth visits violence on fellow humans. We move closer to God when we resist the temptation to homogenize peoples into our preferred, culturally conditioned pre-conditions. We honor God when we honor the ways God created God’s children.