New Army regulations dealing with hair are coming under criticism by some black military women, who say changes are racially biased.
The Army earlier this week issued new appearance standards that ban most twists, dreadlocks and large cornrows. Those are all styles used predominantly by African-American women with natural hairstyles.
More than 11,000 people have signed a White House petition asking President Barack Obama to have the military review the regulations to allow for “neat and maintained natural hairstyles.”
Patricia Jackson-Kelley is with the National Association of Black Military Women. She says that she doesn’t understand how having braids affects a woman’s ability to “perform her duty in the military.”
The changes and several other Army appearance modifications were first published by the Army
