Embrace encourages students to love and respect diversity in hair.

In Detroit on February 14, 1965, Malcolm X stated these wise words: ‘you can’t hate the roots of a tree, and not hate the tree.

The roots of a tree are the very truth of its being.

On Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7:00 p.m., Embrace will be collaborating with UTSA NBLSA, NAACP, and ASA chapters to hold the ‘It’s Your Hair’ forum to bring attention to why loving your roots is of the utmost importance. Embrace is a student organization on campus that encourages self-love and natural beauty.

President of Embrace, Blessing Korie, shared what attendees of the forum must understand. “Hair impacts the way we operate from day to day. It has a deeper meaning than most people think,” said Korie.

The ‘Its Your Hair’ forum will discuss the elephant in the room, topics that go without attention from most people unless they’ve experienced comments and situations such as, “dreadlocks? for an interview?,” or, “Your hair is so poofy, can I touch it!?” These comments and scenarios seem harmless in passing, but are microaggressions against entire groups of people and reflect our society’s disregard for the absolute beauty of black hair culture.

There is a wide range of topics concerning black hair and the social stigmas associated with it such as discrimination in the workplace, dating preferences, perm vs natural hair and cultural appropriation that will be discussed at the event.

Embrace Vice President Khalani Valentine foreshadows the conversation that will take place at the event when she defines cultural appropriation, “The Kardashians and box braids: If people of color wear it, it’s viewed as ghetto. When the Kardashians wear them, people treat it like it’s new, but it isn’t.”