This week, the U.S Navy announced that it was discharging Jessica Sims, an Africa American woman who has been a sailor for 12-years, for “failing to obey an order to cut off her natural hairstyle.”
The military has been under scrutiny for guidelines issued in March that critics believe were discriminatory toward African-American women.
Those regulations “specifically forbid several hairstyles popular for black women who keep their hair natural, including twists, headbands, dreadlocks, or multiple braids that are larger than a quarter-inch.” A former U.S. Army Major, sharply criticized the regulations, noting they targeted “natural styles African American service women have been wearing for years.”
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