The House of Representatives Pass the CROWN Act Into Senate
The legislation aims to eliminate hair-related discrimination.
The House of Representatives passed a bill on March 18 that would ban race-based hair discrimination at work, federal programs and public accommodations.
The CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, passed along party lines with a vote of 235-189. The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote. “For too long, Black girls have been discriminated against and criminalized for the hair that grows on our heads and the way we move through and show up in this world,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley said on the House floor Friday. Congressional action on race-based hair discrimination comes after years of advocates pushing for policy change at the national level.
“Routinely, people of African descent are deprived of educational and employment opportunities because they are adorned with natural or protective hairstyles in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, or worn in locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, or Afros,” the bill states.
“Hair discrimination is rooted in systemic racism, and its purpose is to preserve white spaces,” the NAACP said. “Policies that prohibit natural hairstyles, like afros, braids, bantu knots, and locs, have been used to justify the removal of Black children from classrooms, and Black adults from their employment.”
The White House said, “The President believes that no person should be denied the ability to obtain a job, succeed in school or the workplace, secure housing, or otherwise exercise their rights based on a hair texture or hairstyle.”
