U.S. Soccer's 'Becky with the good hair' email fail is about lack of representation

Let's talk for a moment about Black hair. Hopefully, U.S. Soccer is reading this.   

Historically, the curliness and kinks of Black hair have been treated as inferior to white hair. Black hair has been policed, mocked and used as a mechanism to discriminate. This goes back centuries. In 1700s Louisiana, women of color were legally required to wear certain scarfs or handkerchiefs to cover their hair to signify they were slaves, even though some were in fact free. It took a landmark legal case in the 1970s for Black women to be able to wear their Afros in some workplaces free of discrimination.

In the end, white hair has been viewed as good, and Black hair bad.

This led to a sort of Black hair movement that has crystalized over the past few decades that's been extremely visible. Movies and books have acted as sort of an anchor for this movement and almost everyone knows at least something about it. 

This movement has extended to statehouses. In 2019, California became the first state to legally protect Black hair with the CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair). New York did the same less than two weeks later.

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“The history of our nation is riddled with laws and societal norms that equated ‘Blackness,’ and the associated physical traits, for example, dark skin, kinky and curly hair to a badge of inferiority, sometimes subject to separate and unequal treatment,” the California law reads. The bill adds: “Professionalism was, and still is, closely linked to European features and mannerisms, which entails that those who do not naturally fall into Eurocentric norms must alter their appearances, sometimes drastically and permanently, in order to be deemed professional.”

The point is that there's been an overwhelming number of laws, movies, books and other things about the Black hair journey. There's no excuse not to know this unless your legal residence is a cave.

Which brings us back to the most unusual of destinations: U.S. Soccer.

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To celebrate defender and team captain Becky Sauerbrunn's 200 appearances for the women's national team, U.S. Soccer sent a marketing email to possibly millions of people with the subject line: “Celebrate Becky With The Good Hair!”

It was a play off of a Beyoncé lyric in her 2016 "Lemonade" album. In no universe is this a compliment, no matter the hair type. The woman she refers to is thought to be someone Jay-Z had an affair with.

Sauerbrunn had nothing to do with the email, which U.S. Soccer made clear in a follow-up apology. 

“U.S. Soccer apologizes for the subject line of our email sent this morning to celebrate Becky Sauerbrunn’s 200th cap,” it read. “It was insensitive and should not have been sent. We have connected with Becky and apologized. We have also reviewed our approval process for external marketing communications, and are committed to being more thoughtful in the future.”

So, again, let's talk for a moment about Black hair.

U.S. Soccer's clumsy email isn't the worst thing to happen in the history of America. This was likely someone trying to be funny.

It does, however, demonstrate what happens when there's a lack of representation in the workplace.

Maybe U.S. Soccer did have a Black person in the room as this remarkably tone-deaf email was being created. Black people aren't robots who all think the same. The odds are, however, no such person was involved. 

But to be frank, a white person should have easily known this email was perilous since stories about Black hair have been huge news in recent years. I'm reminded of the Tennessee Three. When the two Black lawmakers, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, were expelled from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, the third member of the three, Gloria Johnson, who survived an expulsion vote, stood by their side. She intuitively understood the assignment and the concept of allyship.

Soccer isn't alone in this possible lack of representation. The NFL demonstrated disdain for its Black players by trying to muzzle the peaceful protest movement started by Colin Kaepernick. It was only after the murder of George Floyd that Roger Goodell admitted the league's approach to the protests was wrong and declared "Black Lives Matter."

Representation is an issue in journalism, politics, entertainment and, really, everywhere. Having it doesn't just create a more inclusive environment, it creates a smarter one.

As U.S. Soccer just found out.