Former NFL player Mathew A. Cherry walked the Dolby stage Sunday, Feb 9th at the academy awards ceremony to receive an Oscar for his short film “Hair Love”.
The short tells a story of an African American family, father & daughter that discover love for their natural features through the process of simply hair styling.
Cherry’s acceptance speech spoke on the intentions for the film bringing attention to the Crown Act, a law that protects against discrimination based on hairstyles by extending statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles in the Fair Employment, Housing Act and state Education Codes in California, New York, Montgomery County, Maryland and New Jersey.
“‘Hair Love’ was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation, and because we wanted to normalize black hair.”
The natural hair trend has been in for a moment now and proves to be growing amongst all, including celebs. Hollywood hair stylist Ursula Stephan’s tells StyleCaster about the natural hair movement:
“Texture is already having a moment, but I do see this as a trend that will only get bigger as women are embracing their natural textures and curl patterns and experimenting to create different looks on the red carpet and in real life.”
“Hair Love” was a very necessary start to the advancement in animation. There’s been a lot of controversy and unfair treatments involved in people’s choice of hair expression. So much that GabrielLe Union, who is one of the producers of ”Hair Love” invited High-school senior DeAndre Arnold to the Oscars with ”Hair Loves” creators after he being told he wouldn’t be allowed to walk his highschool graduation if he didn’t cut his locs as per district dress code.
There is a petition urging congress to pass the crown act law at the national level.
Mathew A. Cherry, we love to see to it!
Cherry is a former NFL wide receiver who played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens during his football career.
