California Senator Holly J. Mitchell introduced Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or popularly known as the CROWN Act, in January 2019 to prohibit any form of discrimination against hairstyle and hair texture. Today, the House passed the CROWN Act and according to Representative Ilhan Omar, it’s “long overdue, but an important step forward to combat racial discrimination.”
“Black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from the workplace because of their hair,” according to a Dove CROWN Research Study in 2019. And 80 percent of Black women are more likely than white women to agree that they have to change their hair from its “natural state to fit in at the office.”
Now that the CROWN Act – which will mainly positively impact the Black community – has been passed by the House, at least 51 of the 100 Senate members must vote in favor of the bill. If it is passed, the President will have the final option to either veto or sign it into law, thus becoming a nationwide mandate and making it illegal to discriminate against natural hair.
As of now, only California (the first state to sign the CROWN Act into law), New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, and Washington passed legislation to ban hair discrimination.
Nonetheless, we’ve learned time and time again the power of the people. Contact your local Senators by e-mail or call and express to them the importance that the CROWN Act be passed in the Senate and sign the petition to encourage lawmakers to support the bill.
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