This Woman Has Started a Petition to Get Unicode to Release an Afro Emoji

Allure

From mythical mermaids to the long-awaited debut of redheads, the past few years have been filled with updates to the standard list of emojis. However, one woman has started a petition for an emoji that we haven't gotten yet: a person with an Afro.

In an interview with NPR, Rhianna Jones, a writer from New York City, shared that she submitted her request for an Afro emoji to the Unicode Consortium on March 31, 2019. As NPR explained, the Consortium, which includes members of tech companies, meets throughout the year to discuss and approve new emojis. Jones is requesting that an Afro emoji appear in 2020.

Her request comes after she started an online petition. The change.org petition has gained more than 20,000 signatures, and Rhianna explained in a caption accompanying the proposal why she believes the Afro emoji is needed. "Currently, emoji hair is straight and Eurocentric, and fails to represent the diversity of Black, Afro-Latinx and other Diasporic communities with kinkier, spherical, coily hair," she wrote. "The addition of the Afro Hair Emoji would help diversify cultural representation and provide a more inclusive experience for emoji users. Our proposed range is inclusive of all skintones, ages and gender identities."

Speaking with NPR, Rhianna revealed that she's dubbed the emoji Frolange, after Solange Knowles. Working with designer Kerrilyn Gibson, 25, the pair created numerous Frolange emojis that come in different hair colors and skin tones.

Rhianna acknowledged that it could be some time before she gets a response to her emoji idea, but she believes an approval could be "a small step towards making our hair and our culture part of the universal language of beauty and of life."

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