IMMEDIATE RELEASE: REP. PORTER LEADS PASSAGE OF BILL TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION ON BASIS OF HAIRSTYLE
Hawkins, Kelsey
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kelsey Hawkins
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2021 860-657-6561
REP. PORTER LEADS PASSAGE OF BILL TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION ON BASIS OF HAIRSTYLE
Rep. Robyn Porter (D-Hamden/New Haven), House Chair of the Labor Committee, led the House of Representatives in passing legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of ethnic hairstyles historically associated with race.
The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (C.R.O.W.N.) Act, House Bill 6515, which will now go to the Senate for consideration, will add two additional qualifiers to current legislation preventing discrimination:
- "Race" is inclusive of ethnic traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles;
- "Protective hairstyles" includes, but is not limited to, wigs, headwraps and hairstyles such as individual braids, cornrows, locs, twists, Bantu knots, afros and afro puffs.
This legislation also explicitly outlines practices which will not tolerate discrimination; a few of which include agencies, municipal public works, unions, employment practices, housing practices, licensing practices, educational programs, and in allocation of state benefits, etc.
“It brings me great ancestral JOY and PRIDE to lead the passage of this piece of legislation in the House. My people have long since bared the burden of conforming and assimilating in the hopes of “fitting in” and being “accepted.” The C.R.O.W.N. Act is a public declaration that we will no longer accept being discriminated against because of the way we choose to adorn our CROWNS. Not for nothing, the way Black women, men, and children choose to wear their hair has absolutely no bearing on our abilities to perform professionally, academically, or otherwise,” Rep. Porter said. “Hairstyle choice is culturally consequential, and it is abhorrent that we are discriminated against when we show up as our authentic selves. It is long past due for these racially biased practices to end. In addition, with the passage of this bill we are showing our precious children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that they are fearlessly and wonderfully made, from the CROWN of their heads to the soles of their feet, no matter how they choose to wear their natural hair.”
According to The CROWN Research Study (2019) by Dove, currently, 80 percent of Black women feel that they have to change their natural hair to fit in at the workplace. H.B. 6376 will ensure that women are able to express themselves and that Black culture is both respected and valued within our workplaces, schools, and beyond. This study also dictates that Black women’s hair is 3.4 times as likely to be called “unprofessional,” or “untidy” compared to white women’s hair; Black women are also 50 percent more likely to have been sent home from the workplace due to their hairstyles and textures, and are passed over for promotions or denied employment all together.
###