Welfare policy is the collective response to social problems, but what happens if the policy is not upheld or enforced in court? This is typically the case with America's intractable and illegal offenses against black and brown people – most notably discrimination in the workplace. This is a question of social policy, because the fight against blackness is literally enshrined and enforced by the laws of this country. Since the end of slavery, white America has found new and innovative ways to maintain the status quo through the marginalization and erasure of blackness. Black women's hair was rejected in the military and schools and was culturally labeled as inappropriate for a workplace. It is inherently violent to exclude someone from the opportunity to support themselves on the basis of phenotypic traits – especially in a capitalist society, but to understand why we must first delve into the history of America with black hair. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The end of the Civil War and new economic opportunities brought many newly freed slaves to New Orleans. This led to an increase in free population and interracial relationships. “Charles III of Spain demanded that the colonial governor of Louisiana “establish public order and proper standards of morality,” with specific reference to a “large class of “mulattoes” and especially “mulatto” women.” . Hair and how we style it has always been a cultural mainstay in black communities. It has been used in African tradition to denote tribal hierarchy, braids have been used to secretly chart the routes to freedom and to this day we have hairstyles that showcase intricate and unorthodox styles. At the time of Charles III's request, black women were known for having detailed, dazzling hairstyles that made them look more regal than the colonizers were willing to allow. In turn, Governor Don Esteban Miró introduced the Tignon laws. Journalist Jameelah Nasheed explained that this law "prohibited Creole women of color from displaying 'excessive sartorial attention' on the streets of New Orleans." Black women were required to wear a headscarf (or tignon) to make it clear that they were lower class. These laws were dissolved in 1803 due to the Louisiana Purchase, but they had already left their mark on societal norms. Soon after, many black women began straightening their hair to follow Eurocentric American beauty standards. Fortunately, black pride movements sparked a new wave of resistance, and in the '60s and '70s, afros became a statement. Living so freely in a country that would rather you die was revolutionary in itself. There are many layers to black-haired America's sketchy past. First, and perhaps most obvious, is racism and white privilege. Because of the norms established by the previous 200 years of genocidal slavery and dehumanization of Black people, colonizers still felt entitled to control Black bodies. White America continually seeks to oppress, suppress, and literally suppress blackness, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forced this discrimination to be enforced in more covert and intelligent ways. AThe solution was (and still is) to introduce workplace policies that disproportionately affected certain groups – the most common being policies related to black hairstyles. Second, using cultural markers to make employment decisions is a way to perpetuate Black poverty and maintain elites (white, cisgender, heterosexual, conservative men) as the gatekeepers of Black wealth or lack thereof. To this day, black people "own little or no U.S. land, produce little or no of the nation's resources, and own negligible amounts of this nation's immense wealth." I thought workplace discrimination cases against black hairstyles were easy cases to win. , like Title VII of the Civil Code's Human Rights Act, prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Although Title VII does not contain a definition of race, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, racial discrimination includes discrimination based on ancestry or physical or cultural characteristics associated with a person. certain race, such as skin color, hair texture or style, or certain facial features. I now realize that just as society has found loopholes to perpetuate discrimination, judges have also found loopholes to deem that discrimination constitutional. ADDIn the case of hair discrimination in the workplace, individuals from the African diaspora are the main people targeted. Black people make up nearly 15% of America, and this bias transcends gender and geography because the fight against blackness is global. In this country, the working age is 14, which can affect any black person legally of working age. In addition to systemic factors, the values ​​and beliefs that influence them are equally responsible for these injustices. One set of conflicting values ​​that influence black hair discrimination in the workplace is rationality versus emotions. Black people are often portrayed as criminal, dirty, and dangerous, so often that white people have traditionally armed police against innocent people of color and police have yet to stop killing unarmed black people; it's not that the black individual did anything threatening, but that culturally we have always been portrayed as savages. The irrational fear rooted in the white imagination manifested itself in "works of art" like DW Griffith's BOAN, which was viewed with such prestige that it earned a White House screening. This relates to another set of conflicting values ​​known as Deserving versus Unworthy, which refers to how each of us determines who is or is not deserving of our help or that society should help. So, in a country that has dehumanized black people for centuries, the general population inherently views black people as unworthy. Additionally, it brings up the idea of ​​helping those you know rather than helping those you don't know. People are more likely to help people they identify with in some way, but after being marginalized for so long, it's difficult for most members of society to identify to blacks. Values ​​and beliefs help form ideologies and theories about how the system is run. . The most important theory at play is the theory of elite power, which states that a handful of people determine the policies of the country and that they are.