News Reporter Receives Big Support After Being Told Her Hair Looked ‘N*ggery’
News Reporter, Corallys Ortiz has received an overwhelming amount of support after she publicly shared a voicemail from a viewer who criticized her natural curls by using a racial slur.
Ortiz is of African American and Latin decent, which means her hair texture is similar to mine and has versatility. I can so relate. One day while reporting the weather for WBBJ7 in Jackson, Tennessee, she graced the camera rocking her natural curls instead of her usual straight- hair look.
One thing that has always been a strong part of my identity is my hair. About 90 percent of the time I wear it straight. It’s the way I was accustomed to wear it growing up. The last few years I’ve grown to manage and love wearing it in its natural state, the big curly fro or “poof” as I call it. Ortiz explained.
Apparently the switch up was not to the liking of one WBBJ7 viewer and she left a very opinionated and hurtful message on the voicemail of the news station to "the weather girl tonight" asking her not to wear her hair like that anymore and to change it back to something more normal. As if those words didn't sting, she continued on to tell her that her hair looked "n*ggery".
Ortiz, who was so appalled by the statement, replayed the recording and shared it on her Facebook page. See below.
Ortiz wrote in the post:
“I hope it serves as a lesson to people like Donna and to remind her that we are living in a new century, in nation filled with people of different backgrounds, cultures, ideals, colors, shapes and sizes,”