Article By Amanda Parkinson // Black Women // EEW Magazine Online

Social media star, Tabitha Brown, is partnering with Dove and The CROWN Act on their mission to end race-based hair discrimination. CROWN is an acronym for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.

In a new YouTube video, the 42-year-old Christian influencer, who simply goes by “Tab” and has amassed millions of followers online, is advocating for Black and Brown women, men, and children that are regularly targeted, criticized, and passed over for jobs because of the style and texture of their natural hair.

To provide context for her advocacy, Brown shared some painful memories that fuel her desire to do away with hair discrimination.

At five years old, Brown recalls the excitement she felt the day her mom let her wear her long, thick hair in two ponytails that were loose at the ends and resembled “pompoms” to school. That feeling of pride, however, was met with disdain when her teacher’s assistant, Ms. Wilson, accused Brown of taking her own hair “aloose” and commenting that there was “no way” her mother condoned that style.

To add insult to injury, according to the star of the YouTube Originals show, Tab Time, that teaches children how to live their best life, Ms. Wilson did something that “hurt” Brown. She braided her pompoms at nap time and said her puffy hair “wasn’t appropriate”—a memory the mega-successful vegan cook and author of “Feeding the Soul” says feels like it happened “yesterday.”

“It hurt my feelings because I felt like I did something wrong,” Brown explained, adding that Ms. Wilson was a Black woman who had been “programmed,” like many others of her generation, to view Black hair in a not so positive light.

Later, as an adult working in Corporate America, Ms. Wilson’s message was reinforced when Brown’s manager told her that her natural hair wasn’t “professional.” Consequently, over the next 20 years, the woman who, today, is known and celebrated for her gorgeous afro affectionately named “Donna” said she either tied her hair back or straightened it to fit in.

The hair bias did not stop with Brown. She said her husband of 18 years, Chance, was once offered a job opportunity with one contingency: he had to cut off his locs.

Situations like this, according to Brown, make Black and Brown people feel “less valuable,” as if we are not enough. “They’re trying to take away your value, take away your culture,” she said, adding, “and it’s not right.”

To right this wrong, Brown encouraged viewers to sign the petition in support of The CROWN Act which was created in 2019 by Dove and the CROWN Coalition. It was done in partnership with then State Senator Holly J. Mitchell of California to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles by extending statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots in the workplace and public schools.

The petition has already amassed more than 350,000 signatures with a goal of 400,000.

“It is our right” to be who we are. “Nothing is wrong with it,” said Brown.