So by now you've likely figured out
something looks a little different
with my crown. Today, July 3rd,
is National Crown Day,
a day that commemorates the passing
of laws across the country.
That ban race based hair discrimination.
So today I'm using my platform to
support this mission and to affirm
that black hair in all of its
natural or protective states is
both professional and beautiful.
And my new sister Delia Gonsal's
is doing the same thing today.
Glad to have you here Dee. I'm
happy to be here. And queen,
you are wearing that crowd. Thank you.
You are radiant and stunning.
You know all of us have a hair story
that is unique to each and every.
One of us in my case, I'm wearing my
hair more natural and I have decided
to let my glorious Gray strands shine.
But it was a journey to get to this point.
And I wondered if it was the right
time and how folks would react.
Seeing my hair Gray. We love,
by the way, the crown.
It just sort of glistens with the the Gray
just sort of sparkles And we love it.
We love it. We love it.
But you and I have talked about my hair
too and and of course when I'm wearing
it straight that means there are weekly
trips to the hairdresser and there's
frequent heat in my hair here on the set.
It's can I go to the commercial
break and rebend it if it's.
You know, humid in here.
It's a lot of work.
And a few years ago I stopped putting
damaging chemicals in my hair.
So I'm really grateful for this protective
style for the next couple of weeks or so.
And a workplace that really embraces
the fullness of our life experiences.
I'm also grateful.
And I know that both of us are for many
in the community for whom are gracing
local and national organizations and
businesses and schools and more every day.
And they're rocking their braids,
their locks, their curls, anything
that's free to breathe and really frame.
Their contributions.
Unapologetically, unapologetically.
And I love that.
And we need it now more than ever.
Really. This is about being celebrated,
not tolerated, unless you,
Allison and I have the opportunity to.
Share and talk with lots of women
about our own hair stories and
we talked to three incredible
women about their journeys,
women who have experienced race
based hair discrimination as well.
Let's share a little bit of
that conversation.
Delia, I'm going to give you
the mic first to talk a little
bit about your experience.
I just went on vacation and came back
with a new crown, right. It's been.
A transition and a transformation
of falling back in love
with myself all over again.
It feels like myself.
It feels empowering, liberating, right?
But it also feels like I'm giving
license to other women to embrace aging
gracefully and moving into your natural.
And beautiful self. My curls are for me.
You're not going to judge me.
You know the viewer's not gonna judge me,
my boss. I'm not gonna.
I'm not even opening myself up to it.
But it's interesting,
because in that are you then,
you know, sort of dimming
your light because you don't,
you say you don't want
the scrutiny. I remember trying to
come away from a perm at one point.
And black women were calling me.
They were calling the station.
They were calling my hair stylist to
say that my hair wasn't straight enough,
that black women don't
wear their hair that way.
I didn't know about the word microaggression
or whether that even applied to us.
What I know is those words penetrated
me because I was a younger woman at
the time and I just hadn't walked
into my destiny or my purpose,
and I wasn't, I think,
as solid to the core as I am now.
And so I put a perm back in my
hair because I thought that was
the thing you had to do.
But it was so painful to have to do it.
There
were times when my boss would be watching
the news and saying go straighten your hair,
go straighten your hair.
My bosses wanted me to have consistent hair.
And I'm saying, hey,
let me wear my hair natural.
This is the most consistent way
I can wear it is the way it
naturally comes out of my head.
The one day I got a new boss, you said,
OK, you can wear your hair natural.
And so I wore my hair and braids on the news.
There have been a couple of times
where I've interviewed for.
Positions, especially, you know,
after after college and stuff where
I would be fine over the phone,
everybody was really
interested in my background,
my internships, my college degree,
and all of a sudden when it's time
for video calls or in person meetings,
you know, I show up.
I feel very confident.
I know that I have the skills
to get this job and.
I never hear back after that interview.
Lee I locked my hair in 2017 after wanting
to lock it for well over a decade.
Have decided I lead with it.
So if we're going to discriminate let's just
get it all out of the way right up front.
I've had folks in in recent years
say to me walk up to me and tell
me that they appreciate me bringing
my full ethnicity to work and and
that it caused it causes me pause.
I don't know how. Like
how do you. How do you reset
a compliment? But I do want
to credit my current company for
allowing me to do that because it's been
one of the most freeing opportunities
we they have a culture of belonging
that they actually embrace. And
that is what the Crown Act is all about,
creating these spaces for us
to be our authentic cells.
We just scratched the surface.
It was amazing conversation. We could
have gone on for hours and we went
on for quite a bit.
So we invite you to join us for an
expanded conversation on W USA9 Plus
that premieres tonight at 9:00 PM.
It's streaming on Roku,
Amazon, Fire TV and Apple
TV and we'll be right back.