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Six Flags Denies Jobs to 2 Women Based on Natural Hair
By Ericka Blount Danois on Apr 21st 2010 11:16AM
Two women are outraged after they say they were denied jobs at Six Flags because of their dreadlocks in Largo, Md., an area with a 93 percent African American population.
Janet Bello, 23, (pictured above left) says when she applied for a part-time job at Six Flags in Largo, she was told her "locks" hairstyle disqualified her from employment.
She says a supervisor told her management is adhering strictly this year to a years-old corporate grooming policy that considers dreadlocks to be an extreme hairstyle. Bello considers the characterization to be offensive:
"I think it's outrageous, and I really think it's sad. ... I think Six Flags can literally, excuse my French, go to hell."
ABC 7 News obtained a copy of Six Flags' grooming standards for employees, which states that the company does not permit "any hairstyle that detracts or takes away from Six Flags' theme."
Not sure what the Six Flags' theme is or how dreadlocks could detract or not detract from that theme.
A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union believes that defining locked hair as inherently unprofessional is racially insensitive at best -- and potentially discriminatory at worst.
Sixty-year-old Jackie Sherrill (pictured above right) says she worked at Six Flags last summer and received a letter earlier this year asking her to come back. She says when a supervisor saw that Sherrill had locks, though, she was told she would not be welcome back unless she changed her appearance -- despite the fact that she had the same hairstyle last year. READ MORE
By Ericka Blount Danois on Apr 21st 2010 11:16AM
Two women are outraged after they say they were denied jobs at Six Flags because of their dreadlocks in Largo, Md., an area with a 93 percent African American population.
Janet Bello, 23, (pictured above left) says when she applied for a part-time job at Six Flags in Largo, she was told her "locks" hairstyle disqualified her from employment.
She says a supervisor told her management is adhering strictly this year to a years-old corporate grooming policy that considers dreadlocks to be an extreme hairstyle. Bello considers the characterization to be offensive:
"I think it's outrageous, and I really think it's sad. ... I think Six Flags can literally, excuse my French, go to hell."
ABC 7 News obtained a copy of Six Flags' grooming standards for employees, which states that the company does not permit "any hairstyle that detracts or takes away from Six Flags' theme."
Not sure what the Six Flags' theme is or how dreadlocks could detract or not detract from that theme.
A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union believes that defining locked hair as inherently unprofessional is racially insensitive at best -- and potentially discriminatory at worst.
Sixty-year-old Jackie Sherrill (pictured above right) says she worked at Six Flags last summer and received a letter earlier this year asking her to come back. She says when a supervisor saw that Sherrill had locks, though, she was told she would not be welcome back unless she changed her appearance -- despite the fact that she had the same hairstyle last year. READ MORE