Baltimore Rock Opera Society Ousts Exec Over Cornrows

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.

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The organization added it was revising its Anti-Discrimination Policy to address cultural representation and dress and enforcing anti-racism leadership training.

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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.

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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.”

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