Democrats. Reintroduce CROWN Act Legislation to Ban Hair Discrimination Nationwide: NPR

A number of Democratic lawmakers have reintroduced the CROWN Act, legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on hairstyle or hair texture. Here on June 15, 2023 in Lansing, Michigan, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signs the Crown Act that will ban racial discrimination in hairstyles in workplaces and schools.

Joey Cappelletti/AP

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Joey Cappelletti/AP

A number of Democratic lawmakers have reintroduced the CROWN Act, legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on hairstyle or hair texture. Here on June 15, 2023 in Lansing, Michigan, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signs the Crown Act that will ban racial discrimination in hairstyles in workplaces and schools.

Joey Cappelletti/AP

A host of Black Democratic lawmakers reintroduced legislation Wednesday banning discrimination against a person’s hairstyle or hair texture.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., led a group of 84 legislators to sponsor the reintroduction of HR 8191, or the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) in the United States House of Representatives.

The bill — which previously passed the House in 2019 and 2022, but stalled in the Senate — aims to end race-based hair discrimination in schools and workplaces for Black Americans and other communities of color.

If signed into law, the law would prohibit discrimination based on hairstyle or texture of coiled or tightly curly hair – including dreadlocks, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, afros or any other commonly associated hairstyle to a race or national origin. .

Watson Coleman said at a news conference Wednesday that lawmakers would re-introduce the bill because “no worker, no student, no person should ever be discriminated against because of the way their hair grows on their head”.

“We can’t control the texture of our hair like we can control the color of our skin,” Watson Coleman said. “…yet Black Americans routinely face discrimination simply because of the appearance of their hair.”

Adjoa B. Asamoah, a researcher and strategist leading the national CROWN Act movement, told reporters Wednesday that “race-neutral” care policies reinforce Eurocentric beauty standards, which she said are “problematic.” .

“There is a long history of racial discrimination against natural hair and protective styles in the workplace, in schools and in society at large,” Asamoah said.

“…I worked tirelessly to pass the CROWN Act and change the culture to mitigate the physical, psychological and economic harm caused by race-based hair discrimination,” she added.

California was the first state to sign the law in 2019, and has since been joined by 24 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Texas is the latest state to implement a version of the law. Legislation has been proposed in 20 additional states and Washington, D.C.

Senate Republicans have already blocked attempts to pass the bill; in 2022, the legislation did not gain enough support from Republicans to bypass a filibuster by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul.

News of the CROWN Act’s reintroduction comes months after the ongoing battle of Darryl George, a black Texas high school student who was suspended for more than a month for wearing a natural hairstyle, was brought into the national spotlight .

The 19-year-old senior at Barbers Hill High School in the Houston area. has faced numerous suspensions since the start of the 2023-24 school year due to what school administrators consider a violation of the school’s dress code.

George’s natural curls fall below his eyebrows and earlobes, which school officials say violates the district’s dress code for male students.

The 19-year-old was suspended just before the Texas law took effect statewide on September 1, 2023. Later that month, he and his mother filed a lawsuit against Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the state’s attorney general, saying they had failed to do so. to apply the law.