None of the 4,000 emojis feature Afro hair – these students could change that

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The project, a partnership between youth-led organisation RISE.365 and PR agency Good Relations, aims to tackle texturism, a form of discrimination where Afro hair is often perceived as “unprofessional”, “unattractive” or “unclean”, they said. open image in gallery Student and Rise 365 young designer Jayzik Duckoo draws Afro hair emoji at the Concorde Youth Club in Hackney “ would break down the society standards of your hair having to be straight to be seen as desirable,” said Jayzik Duckoo, a 17-year-old who worked on the project. open image in gallery Drawings of Afro hair emojis are seen at the Concorde Youth Club in Hackney, east London Unicode did not reply to a Reuters request for comment. “On a more personal note, I finally have an emoji that looks like me, that I can identify with.” open image in gallery An emoji featuring afro hair drawn by Rise.365 member Jayzi open image in gallery An emoji featuring locs drawn by Rise.365 member Rafael open image in gallery An emoji featuring braids drawn by Rise.365 member Reanna open image in gallery An emoji featuring cornrows drawn by Rise.365 member Dante A poll of RISE.365 members - a total of 104 respondents - showed 61% had experienced discrimination or bullying because of their hair.