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May 22, 2007
What is trendy? What is inappropriate? Those are the questions at the center of a personal dispute at one Virginia correctional facility, which has now left one woman without a job and another woman in fear of getting fired.
The NAACP of Virginia says the way one warden is interpreting a department of corrections grooming guideline is nothing short of racist and they are now taking their fight to the state Capitol.
"They fired me on May 16th...and said that I had an extreme hairdo...I am now not allowed back on the compound," said Donna Alison.
Alison is now jobless after her superiors fired her for having braids in her hair. The issue is a February 2007 grooming guideline that leaves some interpretation up to a supervisor.
"'Supervisors will judge the appropriateness of a particular hairstyle by the appearance of headgear when worn'...and here's the kicker...'Extreme or eccentric or trendy haircuts or hairstyles are not authorized,'" stated King Salim Khalfani with the NAACP of Virginia, quoting the guidelines.
For Alison, and her former colleague Juanita Hudson, they say their braided hairstyles are not eccentric or trendy.
"I told the warden, that the policy that he's giving me is racist...It's very simple. It's my culture, I have done this all my life. I have worn braids all my life," explained Hudson.
Hudson is also in grievance proceedings with the Haynesville Correctional Center because of her braided hair.
Calls to the department of corrections to respond to these accusations of racism were not returned.
The NAACP is now asking Secretary of Public Safety John Marshall to intervene in this dispute and they say they want the Haynesville warden fired for discrimination.
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