Black girls with natural hairstyles “belong everywhere,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said on March 18 from the House floor.
“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,” she said in support of a bill prohibiting hair discrimination in the workplace, federal programs, housing programs and public accommodations.
“By passing the CROWN Act today, we affirm – say it loud – Black is beautiful and so is our hair,” she added.
The House approved the bill March 18 in a 253-189 party-line vote. The CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act,” will now head to the Senate for consideration. A day before, the Massachusetts House — and Pressley’s state — became the latest to pass a ban on hair discrimination.
People of African descent lose 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.
Pressley joined other House Democrats who support a national policy change over race-based hair discrimination. Versions of the CROWN Act already exist in more than 12 states, including California, which was the first to pass the legislation in 2019.
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