Supporters of the bill said a recent study showed that one in five Black women working in office or sales settings have said they had to alter their natural hair. Opponents called the bill a distraction.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. President Joe Biden has already said he would sign the bill, known as the Crown Act, into law.
But House Democrats noted that, in several instances, judges have dismissed civil rights cases on the basis that the law does not directly cover discrimination on the basis of hair. The House bill makes clear that hair is in fact included. In addition to Afros, cornrows and twists, the bill mentions protections for other hairstyles and textures of styles that often draw prejudice against Black people.
In 2017, the twin sisters were told by their high school staff to remove their box braids. They refused, saying the policy was discriminatory and unevenly enforced. School administrators told them that the ban on hair extensions had been designed to “foster a culture that emphasizes education rather than style, fashion or materialism.”
The Massachusetts attorney general eventually stepped in and ordered school officials to abandon the rule, which they did. But Mya and Deanna, now college students, said the traumatic experience stays with them. “I’ll tell you watching that was heartbreaking,” Coleman said. “But the fact that he withstood that humiliation, that public humiliation, and immediately went and won that match says so much about that young man’s character.”
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House passes bill to prohibit discrimination based on hairSupporters of the bill said a recent study showed that one in five Black women working in office or sales settings have said they had to alter their natural hair. Opponents called the bill a distraction.
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House passes bill to prohibit discrimination based on hairThe bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. President Joe Biden has already said he would sign the bill, known as the Crown Act, into law.
Read more »