Akilah Davis, an area TV information anchor at WTVD in Raleigh, North Carolina, made a robust assertion on Juneteenth by embracing her pure hair after showing with out her wig on stay tv.
Rising up, Akilah’s hair texture was usually misunderstood, main her mom to make use of numerous hair-straightening strategies to make it extra manageable.
“I didn’t suppose she had dangerous hair. She simply didn’t have the feel I had,” Akilah’s mother, Debra Davis, mentioned throughout an interview with ABC 7. “The one means I may repair it was to both scorching comb it or perm it.”
Sadly, Akilah grew up adopting the idea perpetuated by societal messages, together with these from TV and magazines, that straight hair was the one normal of magnificence.
“The message actually stayed with a technology of Black girls specifically who actually needed to work to beat the concept that one thing about their hair was inherently insufficient,” mentioned Dr. Jasmine Cobb, a professor of African American research at Duke College and the writer of the e-book “New Development, The Artwork and Texture of Black Hair.”
Nevertheless, amid the worldwide racial reckoning sparked by George Floyd’s homicide in 2020, a quiet motion amongst Black girls was gaining momentum. Many ladies, together with Akilah, started embracing their pure hair as a logo of freedom and self-expression.
“A method we’re redefining and reclaiming our id is thru our hair,” mentioned Maya Anderson, a loctician at Locs, Naturals, & Extra, citing the rising development of Black girls beginning locs. “Simply stand up, shake your hair, transfer on with the day and never have to fret about rain or humidity.”
In December 2021, Akilah had micro locs put in by Anderson, however she had been concealing them with a wig for over a yr. On Juneteenth, she determined to take away the wig on stay TV, sharing her journey to hair freedom. By doing so, she aimed to encourage different girls and younger ladies who battle to embrace their roots.
“I’m simply happy with you doing what you’re doing and being courageous by presenting your self the way you need to current your self,” her mother mentioned.
This information first appeared on blacknews.com.
