As a little girl growing up it was always my dream to be a news anchor woman. I would look at women like Brenda Blackmon and Robin Roberts in awe. These women weren't entertainers, they were speaking to me, informing me and giving me something that i did not see in my neighborhood. They were successful and beautiful but of course they had straight hair. However, times have changed and black women around the world are becoming more and more conscious of what they are doing to their hair. so obviously if the public is changing, then the people reporting the news must do so too. but can these woman who are public figures with professional careers get in on the natural hair movement without a hitch? The answer to that question depends on who's watching.
Rhonda A. Lee, a meteorologist for KTBS in Shreveport, Louisiana was fired after politely responding to a viewer complaint on Facebook about her hair. The station stated that she had violated a social media policy that they had made up in a private meeting. The backlash that followed fell seemingly on deaf ears even as nearly 1,000 of her fans have signed a petition for her to be rehired, the station has stood firm.The comment was left on KTBS-TV's facebook page on October 1st by a man named Emmitt vascocu and is still visible to this date. He wrote:
"the black lady that does the news is a very nice lady. the onlt (only) thing is she needs to wear a wig or grow some more hair. Im not sure if she is a cancer patient. but still its not something myself that i think looks good on tv."
After nothing was done about the post, Lee responded:" Hello Emmitt—I am the "black lady" to which you are referring. My name is Rhonda Lee. Nice to meet you,I am sorry you don't like my ethnic hair. And no I don't have cancer.
I am very proud of my African-American ancestry which includes my hair. For your edification: traditionally our hair doesn't grow downward. It grows upward. Many Black women use strong straightening agents in order to achieve a more European grade of hair and that is their choice. However in my case I don't find it necessary. I'm very proud of who I am and the standard of beauty I display. Women come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and levels of beauty. Showing little girls that being comfortable in the skin and HAIR God gave me is my contribution to society. Little girls (and boys for that matter) need to see that what you look like isn't a reason to not achieve their goals."
But even after Lee was commend on having such a pleasant response to an unpleasant post and Vascocu even apologized and replied saying: "you are very right to be proud of where you are from and I do respect that" The station felt she had taken things too far and gave her the boot.
There is also some mention of Lee having been discriminated against before by another station who claimed she didn't appeal to the viewers, who were white males. Clearly there was no support by her employers for her to continue on her journey. And that is a shame. Wearing our hair naturally is a big step and I'm sure many women are afraid of how it will affect their work as well as personal life.
It was surprising that Ronda Lee was receiving so much negativity for her hair,when in 2010 Rochelle Ritchie of WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida was seemingly being praised for her decision to do a big chop. Ratings increased greatly when viewers saw the transformation.
Here is a video of her story.
On a final note, there are a lot of people that don't understand this natural hair thing and are annoyed by it. "It's just hair" they say. But it is indeed about so much more. We have subjected ourselves to so much just trying to fit in or to please those around us. Going natural is not just about hair it is about making a decision to embrace and take care of ourselves. Many women find that it has a domino effect, healthy hair leads to a healthy lifestyle. I for one will keep talking about natural hair and making a big deal out of it because it is a big deal. Until next time darlings.....
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