Last Friday, Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SW/AW) Jessica Sims was honorably discharged from her 12-year service in the Navy for refusing to trim her locks.
In an interview with USA Today where Sims discusses her upcoming discharge she says, “For the past couple weeks, not knowing what the Navy was going to do, if they were going to move forward with the discharge or keep me in, had me in a little limbo,” She goes on to say, “In the back of my head I knew that they weren’t going to change, so it was more of just waiting for the date.”
According to Sims, she has worn her tightly wound dreadlocks in a bun since 2005, and despite what officials say about the bun being too bulky to be worn under a gas mask, Sims maintains that it was not an issue and it never has been.
Sims firmly believes that Navy regulations that led to her discharge are biased again the natural hairstyles that many Black women wear. In a statement that likely resonates with most Black women, Sims says, “I don’t think I should be told that I have to straighten my hair in order to be within what they think the regulations are, and I don’t think I should have to cover it up with a wig.”