American Apparel does not want to hire blacks with straight hair

[gimbap]

^^ What is the purpose of those??

 

[gabulldawg]

Wait. What? ohwell:

Are you saying discrimination doesn't matter? Well, let's tell Congress to go ahead and throw out the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and so on.

I couldn't care less who works at American Apparel, but it would be wrong for me to act like it doesn't matter. "It won't ever change." That's just not true. There is still discrimination, but plenty has changed. "Who cares?" I care. Discrimination (in education) is what made me go to law school...thank goodness some of us care.

ETA: I've read through this whole thread and I just had to comment on that post.

I don't recall saying discrimination doesn't matter. Then again this is LHCF...

 

[Solitude]

I don't understand what there is to be mad about. People are constantly discriminated whether you know it or not. And no matter how mad you get that won't ever change. If it's not your hair texture or your skin color, then it's your weight. Why worry about that kind of stuff? Who cares? I'm not tryin to get a job at AA so I'm not too concerned...

I don't recall saying discrimination doesn't matter. Then again this is LHCF...

Yes, this is LHCF and thank goodness for the quote feature. I was referring to your bolded comments above. Did I misinterpret your words? What did you mean by "people are constantly being discriminated against" "it won't ever change" "why worry about this stuff?" and "who cares?"

 

[gabulldawg]

Yes, this is LHCF and thank goodness for the quote feature. I was referring to your bolded comments above. Did I misinterpret your words? What did you mean by "people are constantly being discriminated against" "it won't ever change" "why worry about this stuff?" and "who cares?"

Comment #1 - I figured that was self-explanatory.
Comment #2 - I don't believe that this world will ever exist without some type of discrimination. That's usually how it works in "civilized" societies. People will always find a way to divide eachother.
Comment #3 - I'm not concerned about whether or not certain people will discriminate against me or not. If I constantly worried about that I wouldn't be able to function. Certain things about me will never change, whether other people like them or not. There are those that will accept it and those that will not. That's reality.
Comment #4 - I don't care if AA has certain qualifications that blacks have to meet in order to be employed there. I still like their clothes and will still wear them.

 

[gabulldawg]

^^ What is the purpose of those??

Sometimes pantyhose can squish your booty and make it look flatter than it is. These allow you to wear your pantyhose and still have a nice round uninhibited rump.

 

[JerriBlank]

Ummm...you could take offense to any black women being called nappy headed in a "negative" manner(it was meant to be an insult) as long as that is how yours grows from your head.You qualify for the nappy headed category too

 

[Muse]

And on another note, this is all White man's reality. If people would find another set of values to live by, they wouldn't be attempting to "join" that.

I could not agree more.

 

[Southernbella.]

I'm going to stick with hairstyle.

I think I used the word discrimination in a loose sense not in the legal sense. I was talking about when they basically said that black girls with straight hair were trashy. So instead of saying:



To be perfectly clear, I should have said:



I think that the last part of my quote makes it clear that I was speaking about the name calling not the legal issues.



Anyway, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that if someone decided to sue American Apparel over this issue they wouldn't have a leg to stand on and would basically be laughed out of the courtroom, if they even got that far.

Now I see where we got our wires crossed. I never took that statement to mean they were referring to black women with straight hair. In fact, the entire blog post is kind of odd in that it tries to link separate events in this one diatribe. The trashy/classy comment was one instance; the "stop straightening" comment was another. I was talking about the latter.

As for the name-calling, again, I never thought it was specifically directed at black women with straight hair. I can't really tell who it's directed at. Either way, it was classless to make that statement and I don't agree with it.

 

[Southernbella.]

I wonder what the reaction would have been if AA preferred to hire black female employees/models with only real hair, no weaves.

Better yet, what if they wanted all female employees to wear bare faces? Would there be an uproar then?

I think we forget sometimes that none of us were born with straight hair. It's something we all decide to wear.

 

[Freespirit02]

The ONLY reason I think this company should be sued is because the fired the ladies..or ordered them not to straighten their hair. If that's how they hired them then they should be able to keep their hair straight. However, I don't feel they should be sued for not hiring relaxed hair women. You will never see a fat person work at Abercromie..but no one has a problem with that. Or a thick chick working at hooters..but no one has a problem with that. If you don't fit the culture of the business, you won't get hired..simple as that.

 

[Nali1987]

The ONLY reason I think this company should be sued is because the fired the ladies..or ordered them not to straighten their hair. If that's how they hired them then they should be able to keep their hair straight. However, I don't feel they should be sued for not hiring relaxed hair women. You will never see a fat person work at Abercromie..but no one has a problem with that. Or a thick chick working at hooters..but no one has a problem with that. If you don't fit the culture of the business, you won't get hired..simple as that.

Hmm, I don't agree. It's discrimination. These ladies suffered unfair treatment due to their race. They wouldn't demand women of other races not straighten or color their hair so to demand that from a black woman is unjust. Especially because the majority relaxes their hair. Workplace discrimination is common for people who wear dreadlocks and such and they've sued with success. I don't see why these ladies shouldn't. And for the Abercromie thing, obesity is not a legally protected characteristic.

 

[Southernbella.]

Hmm, I don't agree. It's discrimination. These ladies suffered unfair treatment due to their race. They wouldn't demand women of other races not straighten or color their hair so to demand that from a black woman is unjust. Especially because the majority relaxes their hair. Workplace discrimination is common for people who wear dreadlocks and such and they've sued with success. I don't see why these ladies shouldn't. And for the Abercromie thing, obesity is not a legally protected characteristic.

Nobody demanded anything.

A manager suggested to another manager that she advise two of her employees to stop straightening their hair. The second manager never did it. So we're essentially arguing over nothing.

 

[dynamic1]

The ONLY reason I think this company should be sued is because the fired the ladies..or ordered them not to straighten their hair. If that's how they hired them then they should be able to keep their hair straight. However, I don't feel they should be sued for not hiring relaxed hair women. You will never see a fat person work at Abercromie..but no one has a problem with that. Or a thick chick working at hooters..but no one has a problem with that. If you don't fit the culture of the business, you won't get hired..simple as that.

That did not happen. No one was fired. No one was ordered to stop straightening. They never said do not hire women with relaxed hair.

ETA: Reference - the article

 

[imaccami]

Now I see where we got our wires crossed. I never took that statement to mean they were referring to black women with straight hair. In fact, the entire blog post is kind of odd in that it tries to link separate events in this one diatribe. The trashy/classy comment was one instance; the "stop straightening" comment was another. I was talking about the latter.

As for the name-calling, again, I never thought it was specifically directed at black women with straight hair. I can't really tell who it's directed at. Either way, it was classless to make that statement and I don't agree with it.

Yeah we're kinda talking in circles because the blog post is kind of vague so everyone's coming to different conclusions and that's causing a lot of confusion.

 

[Curlee_lurker]

Hmm, I don't agree. It's discrimination. These ladies suffered unfair treatment due to their race.

Who? Where? When?

I promise I must read stuff in a different language or something because the scenarios even the blog seems to jump to are ridiculous and make no sense.

 

[Curlee_lurker]

Did anyone read the actual article vs this person's blog? The hiring practices are pretty consistent.

If they are out "scouting" EVERYONE has to show their hair in their scouting photos because they feel hair is important. I don't think this incident is a case of racism or what have you as the company seems to be pretty douchy with EVERYONE. It's not discriminatory if everyone has to abide by the same stupidity right?

A full length shot of you and a close up of your face is REQUIRED to be sent in with an application and people are shocked that someone would comment on a hairstyle? Come on this can't be life.

 

[Guitarhero]

Blacks taking issue with how we came out? What about makeup, bras, acrylic nails and/or polish, high heeled shoes, pantyhose - all things that alter the appearance. We should be cavewoman, hairy and au naturelle. Of course, it's never truly a woman's prerogative to present herself as SHE wishes, it's always up to a male. I voted bullsh!t brown for sarcasm.

The real issue here has not at all been addressed. Why are many of these model poses for American Apparel an open invitation to screw? I have a crotch and don't need the lesson on how anyone else's looks.

 

[ambergirl]

I haven't read the whole thread completely but I'm with the crew who think this right here is some ridiculous ****.

Stereotyping people AND denying them employment based on hair is just stupid and borderline legally actionable....you would think the geniuses at AA would be able to come up with a way of screening potential employees other then hair texture....

just dumb.

 

[BEAUTYU2U]

This could just be me but ...

I kind of look at this issue as I would if the store asked for women (or men) who did not dye their hair. Straightening a black woman's hair is a chemical process ... it's not a natural look, as in that's not how their hair is naturally or could be. Sort of like someone with pink hair dye. Yes, it's their hair and should be able to do what they want with it but their hair doesn't grow that way naturally and could not. We (black women) tend to think of relaxers as the norm, but others may not.

Even when I was relaxed, I don't think I would take much offense to this issue.

 

[cupcakes]

Im not really offended either. Big hair is cool, hipsters rock.

 

[Shana']

As mention previously, there would hell to pay if a company only hired those with relaxed or heat straightened hair. What I think a lot of people fail to realize when one part of the AA community faces discrimination, we are ALL affected. I understand that AA reserves the right to hire who they want but this is flipping stupid.

 

[MangaManiac]

Wow. I'm more angry about how everyone completely misconstrued what the man said than his business practices.

Frankly speaking, he didn't say a lot of what y'all are arguing about. And Belldandy, I don't want to come across combative, but hiring practices in retail DO directly correlate with the fashion industry. Clothes = fashion. What are they selling? Clothes. This isn't anything new. And as someone who's worked in retail this is just standard.

Now, the only thing I have a problem with as far as what was REALLY said was singling out BW in the first place. However, we don't know what he said about other races. But I'm sure he had an opinion about Latinas and Asians. Second, the issue was really with the district manager that wanted the other manager to tell girls to stop straightening their hair. That's just idiocy on her part. And I honestly believe that the DM misconstrued what the owner said much in the same way you all are.

Aside from that straight hair does not equal trashy. You can be trashy with straight or natural hair. Not hiring girls with straight hair is not their business practice because their website and a lot of their stores (which I've been to because of friends) contradict that notion.

Also, I don't believe that girls with straight hair can't feel sorry for those with natural hair when they're called names because they aren't getting upset over this issue. In MOST (NOT ALL, so don't misquote me) cases straight hair only got that way because of chemicals, whereas natural hair is...natural. When someone makes a comment about natural hair they are insulting ALL BW, but when it's to someone with straight hair it's not. It's not right, but it's a completely different issue. Just because someone wears blue contacts over their brown eyes doesn't mean they're eyes are suddenly blue. You are what you are and sympathy shouldn't be contingent on whether you decided to chemically alter your hair texture or not.

With that said, I'm bothered that he was singling out BW, but the rest is stuff y'all have come up with. Straight hair and natural hair is beautiful if it's maintained well and whether or not someone from a different camp agrees, we'd best stick to our guns and be happy we're unique.

Heck, most people spend hours in the sun or the doctor's office to get our natural attributes. They can keep hatin' because it's not going to stop me from enjoying life and then taking over their businesses when I'm done with school. Then I'll show them how to run things!

 

[Junebug D]

... Yet ALL the WW in their ads looks trashy/unbathed. And their clothes look dirty too. I'm glad they don't want to represent people who look like me.

 

[AvaSpeaks]

I'm kinda speechless because this is so stupid but mainly because I'm tired of others trying to turn black people on each other based on what they feel we should look like.

And who are the "trashy" kind of black girls they were speaking of? Ones with straight hair?

Probably the ones that look like they have the long straight weave hair. You know what kind they are talking about

But seriously, they are probably looking for the Black girls that have the "interesting" natural hair because that's what's trendy right now for them.

I'm telling you, if White America all of a sudden said that "natural hair" is the best, then everybody will start getting natural hair! It never stops, they always want to control what images they feel represent fashion and beauty and unfortunately, some of us will fall for it

 

[BEAUTYU2U]

... Yet ALL the WW in their ads looks trashy/unbathed. And their clothes look dirty too. I'm glad they don't want to represent people who look like me.

 

[shamarie]

You hit it right on the nail. Natural/Afro-styled hair is what's hot for AA this season. I'm a model and damn near everytime I have a photoshoot (especially the ones that are going to be published) my hair HAS to be in an afro. They aren't necessairly saying, Jasmine, if you don't wear you hair in a fro we are going to use another girl. But whenever I show up for a fitting and my hair is straight, they ALWAYS say, "Oh, you're not going to wear your hair like that tomorrow are you? Or one time I showed up with straight hair ($250 extensions) and the photographer (AA male) was like " I thought you were going to wear your hair in an afro. Can you take those extensions out?" I was like hell to the naw!

So right now, natural textures are what's in style. I hate to say it, but it's just a fad that's gonna pass. (Natural Nazi's please don't go off on me) just saying...

Your right Hun...look at the TV ads, most of AA women are natural. It may be a Fad that last as long as the relaxed look. i guess we will see.

 

[OhmyKimB]

....American Apparel is not affordable

 

[Bnster]

I was avoiding this thread for a long while but finally clicked on it and yes I am upset discrimination is discrimination no matter what.

This is so wrong; I thought American Apparel is in it to make money. I don't understand they are not trying to sell their clothes to those types. It is the same as a store trying to gear their clothes to YT people and will not hire other non YT or discriminate against individuals coming into their stores.

It is not a store I would like to give my hard earn money too.

 

[Gigi-07]

Many places discriminate based on looks, this is not anything new or anything to get upset over imo. As a business, they want their workers to have a certain appearance to appeal to their customers (ex. Hooters).

and

... Yet ALL the WW in their ads looks trashy/unbathed. And their clothes look dirty too. I'm glad they don't want to represent people who look like me.

Pretty much. lol.