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Posted on 10/04/2026 8:05:26 AM PDT by DFG
Cornrows are at the center of a controversy between the Baltimore Rock Opera Society and its former executive director.
Kelly Carnes says the group terminated her contract as executive director two weeks after she started the job after she wore her hair in cornrows.
A spokesperson for the Baltimore Rock Opera Society declined to comment and said it is focused on caring for their internal community. However, the group posted a statement on social media two weeks ago after backlash from a video posted on social media showing Carnes wearing cornrows.
Carnes says the video was taken at a puppet karaoke fundraiser on September 10th, two days after she started the job.
“We have received many heartfelt and concerned messages from members of our community regarding a video circulated on social media showing our new Executive Director, who is white, wearing cornrows at a recent BROS public event. We share the weight of these concerns and take this matter seriously,” the statement from Baltimore Rock Opera Society said.
The organization added it was revising its Anti-Discrimination Policy to address cultural representation and dress and enforcing anti-racism leadership training.
“The mission of this group will focus on initiatives and systemic changes related to community culture, anti-racist practices, inclusion, accountability, equity, and access within BROS,” the statement posted on social media adds.
Carnes says she got her hair cornrowed for the Burning Man festival, which takes place in a desert area in Nevada. She says she did not have time to take the braids out before her first event.
She learned volunteers complained about her hairstyle and that there were cultural appropriation concerns a few days after the BROS event.
“I understand the concerns and I’m very sensitive to them,” said Carnes. “I wear that hairstyle only for the two weeks I’m camping at Burning Man, where the conditions are really rough on your body and your hair and, after a couple of years of not being able to take care of my hair well and seeing many others braid theirs, I talked to my community members there, my fellow campers of color, the people that I work with back here, back home, to ask what the boundaries were in exploring whether or not I could braid my hair to take better care of it.”
Carnes says Baltimore Rock Opera Society held a town hall with the community that she was advised not to attend and held a board meeting a few days later before she received a termination notice saying she was “not a good fit.”
“I’m disappointed that I never even got the chance to do my job,” said Carnes. “It’s kind of a classic judging a book by its cover story instead and, of course, that’s incredibly disappointing, especially coming from an arts organization whose part of their ethos is that radical and fearless self-expression is a part of their dynamic.”
Carnes’ lawyer, Owen Bement, says she is considering her options.
Bement points to the CROWN Act, saying in part, “In Maryland, BROS may not lawfully separate my client because it believes one group of people may have a certain hairstyle while others may not. That is as clear cut a violation of Maryland’s anti-discrimination laws as I have ever seen.”
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I suspect there were other reasons than the corn rows.
How is it racist for her to wear cornrows. I know a white lady that works at a restaurant down the street and she has cornrows.. and she has a black boyfriend.
, who is white, wearing cornrows
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racial appropriation...................
Fire any Blacks culturally appropriating the cornrows Bo Derek wore in the movie “10”. It’s obvious from that movie that the hair style should only be worn by attractive blondes.
Now, not only do you have to have a certain skin pigmentation to use a certain word with a specific suffix, you also have to have a certain skin pigmentation to wear your hair in cornrows. What’s next?
Is this what they call diversity and inclusion?
“… video circulated on social media showing our new Executive Director, who is white, wearing cornrows at a recent BROS public event. We share the weight of these concerns and take this matter seriously….”
*******************************************
How bizarre. Would they take the same action if it was a black woman who straightened her hair? Of course not.
“We have received many heartfelt and concerned messages from members of our community regarding a video circulated on social media showing our new Executive Director, who is white, wearing cornrows at a recent BROS public event. We share the weight of these concerns and take this matter seriously,” the statement from Baltimore Rock Opera Society said.
The organization added it was revising its Anti-Discrimination Policy to address cultural representation and dress and enforcing anti-racism leadership training.
Yes, there has to be more to the story.
Puppet karaoke event? Did Spinal Tap open for it?
Cornrows are fine. They are unfortunate for the poor dear, but I guess not unusual for these post-normal times. What I object to is the term “Rock Opera”. Eff you “Tommy” fans.
Does that mean that all black people must give up their cars and riding trains since these are European expressions that belong to white people? Is it time for them to walk everywhere?
Braiding hair like that is actually initially a European thing. In any case, if you’re being fired for the way you wear your hair, sheesh that’s just craziness. People must realize there is no original anything in the world. Everything is an amalgam of what came before.
So now every black woman who straightens her her hair is now a racist, culturally appropriating white women’s hair?
When using the term “rock opera”, you have already got into the realm of absurdity. Only The Who can get by with that.
White Liberal woman hit with reality.
ELP’s “Pirates” was more of a rock opera than all of you fukakas.
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