by Dorothy Philbin | CNBNewsnet Contributor
WASHINGTON, DC–I scanned an article this week but didn’t spend much time on it because I thought it was a joke. I should have known better. It’s the government!
There are a lot of problems that our government should be working on – inflation, gas prices, war in Ukraine, the border crisis. These are all very important. They affect all of us every day. So, what is our Congress going to work on this week? Hair Discrimination! Yes, you read that correctly, Hair Discrimination.
Why? I can’t give you an answer. I thought we outlawed discrimination with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Granted, there are still problems but a separate law for hair? The purpose of the law is to stop non-black people from wanting to touch the hair of blacks. I never knew this was a big problem but Congress apparently thinks it is bigger than the price of gas and groceries.
I have one question about this law. When I was teaching at West Philadelphia High School one year every student I taught was a refugee from West Africa. When I was sitting at a table with one student another often walked behind me and I could feel someone’s fingers going through my hair. I think I had two ways of handling this. First, I could ignore it. It was no big thing. Second, I could ask the student not to touch my hair, thank you. I never, ever thought “oh, we need a law so I can sue the student and the school.”
I think Congress should let people, few as they may be, learn to say “please don’t touch my hair” and get back to the little things like the cost of living.