Photo: skynesher (Getty Images)
Have you ever been in a text exchange with friends and struggled to find an emoji that really represents you? You might be able to get close with the melanin, but something about the hair just ain’t right. You’re not alone.
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Of the nearly 4,000 images in the emojiverse (yes, we just made that word up), none of them reflect the hairstyles worn by Black people (i.e. braids, afros and corn rows).
That’s where London-based youth organization Rise.365 comes in. The group is on a mission to facilitate newborn people thrive by providing them with things like mentorship, counseling and educational support.
Young members of the group were asked to design emojis with hairstyles that reflect those most commonly worn by Black people. The group then took the submissions and narrowed them down to four styles – braids, afro, locs and cornrows.
In April, the group plans to submit their designs for consideration to the Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit organization of hardware and software companies that acts as a gatekeeper for emojis and releases them so they can be shared across multiple platforms. The Consortium considers demand, including Google searches when deciding what emoji designs they will ultimately choose.
Loc and cornrow emoji proposal designs from Rise.365Image: theguardian.com
“Black people, and women in particular, tend to have so many different hairstyles but none of these are represented,” said Amina Gray, a Rise.365 youth mentor. “We need to normalize that our hair – whether it’s in its natural state or it’s in a protective hairstyle – is acceptable … is professional.”
Gray hopes the Unicode Consortium will consider their designs and that their work is the beginning of a movement for more inclusivity – both inside and outside of the emoji verse.
“The four we have designed are just the start. [The campaign] is a teaching opportunity. I don’t want people to think we just want emojis because we want to be represented that way. It’s because there’s a much deeper message behind it, about empowering people and helping people realize that their hair is beautiful,” said Gray.
