Equity for Black Hair Textures and Styles

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair” or CROWN Act, 235-189. Seventeen Republicans joined Democrats to agree that it should be illegal to discriminate based on hair texture or hairstyles commonly associated with a specific race or culture.

I’ve been told by a supervisor that she had no doubt about my skills to do the job, but she hesitated to promote me because I wore my hair in cornrows. I left the organization for another position within weeks of that comment.

I’ve seen hair discrimination from medical professionals. I was being hooked up to an EEG machine, where they put leads on your scalp to measure your brain waves. My locs at the time needed to be tightened but that turned out to be good for the test. The nurse said, “See, your hair is just fine. Another lady came in and her hair was like yours and it was so tight to her scalp that I couldn’t put the leads on. I told her that she needed to do something about her hair and come back when I can do my job.”

I remember feeling empathy for the other patient and having a real time conversation with myself about whether to challenge the nurse on her discrimination against the other woman’s hairstyle. I decided that since I was feeling sick and nervous about the test that I didn’t need the stress of confronting racist behavior, especially since the other woman was already gone.

America uses many weapons in its quest to “other” Black and brown people. Texturism is just one - uplifting Eurocentric hair textures and styles and denigrating other textures, especially tightly coiled hair textures and protective hairstyles associated with people of Afrikan descent. (I’ll be talking about featurism and texturism in an upcoming unit in Inspired by Indigo)

In typical fashion, people who read headlines and don’t know the facts (either white men or bots posing as white men) popped up on social media proclaiming the act would allow people to wear eccentric hairstyles to work and complaining that this isn’t the most important thing we could be working on right now.

Republicans used the same talking points saying Congress should be focused on inflation and high gas prices. Jim Jordan of Ohio said, "Fourteen months of chaos and we're doing a bill on hair. I hope we can actually focus on the things that matter to the American people."

Black folks and other people of color are American, too, and it matters to us if we can live and work and play just as we are without having to conform to someone else’s standard of beauty.

For years not loving my natural hair because my job don't like it. Having to Put chemicals or weaves to make it more presentable. Society a mother** loving myself was hard fr. But no one tells white ppl how to wear their hair😒 i shouldn't have to change my skin or my hair pic.twitter.com/MU03XP205i

— Black & proud ❤️ (@LovewinsBLM) March 18, 2022

Just because it doesn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen or it doesn’t matter. Black and brown people are being refused jobs after being hired, being fired for going from chemically straightened hair or wigs to wearing their hair natural, being kicked out of school for wearing their hair in its natural state. This is a real and important issue affecting our ability to just live our lives.

Even the military recognized that its hair rules discriminated against Black hair textures and styles and has been updating its regulations to recognize that different hair textures need different care and styling.

California was the first state to make it illegal to discriminate based on hair texture in 2019 and 16 states have followed suit.

The text of the bill reads in part:

Federally Assisted Programs

“No individual in the United States shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, based on the individual’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin (including a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros).”

Housing

No person in the United States shall be subjected to a discriminatory housing practice based on the person’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin (including a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros).

Employment

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining (including on-the-job training programs) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against an individual, based on the individual’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin (including a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros).

Equal Rights Under the Law

No person in the United States shall be subjected to a practice prohibited under section 1977 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981), based on the person’s hair texture or hairstyle, if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin (including a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros).

The Senate needs to pass this bill so it can become law. Hair discrimination might technically be covered under the 1964 Civil Rights Act by implication as some Republicans claim, but federal courts have explicitly allowed this type of discrimination to continue. Just pass the law, let us wear our hair as it grows naturally, and stop pretending different means inferior.