Mel B calls for new UK law to ban discrimination against Afro hairstyles

London, September 10, 2024. Former Spice Girls member Mel B, along with many Black Britons, is urging the UK Parliament to update the country's equality laws to ban discrimination against Afro hairstyles. On Tuesday, Mel B, singer Beverley Knight, and MP Paulette Hamilton, among other activists, sent an open letter to lawmakers calling for the UK to introduce laws that recognize Afro hairstyles as a protected characteristic.

The open letter was released on the eve of "World Afro Day" on Sunday. It pointed out that people with Afro hairstyles have long suffered unjust treatment in British society. Existing laws are not direct enough in preventing serious harm and do not recognize hairstyles as a protected characteristic, leading to everyday discrimination and making it normal for Afro hairstyles to be regarded as inferior. Mel B said that both when she was a child and after becoming a pop star, her "big and wild curls" brought unnecessary attention. For example, when shooting the music video for "Wannabe", the stylist asked her to straighten her hair.

Racial discrimination based on hairstyles has been a topic of debate and litigation in the United States for some time. More than twenty states including Texas and Michigan as well as the US territory of Puerto Rico have introduced laws this year to prohibit employers and schools from punishing people for Afro hairstyles and the like.