@thehillpolitics: A bicameral host of Black lawmakers have reintroduced legislation in an effort to ban hair discrimination. Led by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) as well as Adjoa B. Asamoah, co-founder of the CROWN Coalition, lawmakers gathered outside the Capitol to announce the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, or CROWN Act. “We can’t control the texture of our hair any way that we can control the color of our skin,” Watson Coleman said. “And yet, Black Americans routinely face discrimination simply because of the way their hair is.” While more than 20 states have enacted a CROWN Act law, each state has different levels of protection leading to disparities in how the law is enforced. Darryl George, for example, a high school student from Texas, made headlines earlier this year after being repeatedly put on in-school suspension for his locs. This federal CROWN Act would provide research, statistics, and precedents to support the need to define and prohibit hair discrimination in the workplace and schools in order to enforce the protection of civil rights.

1218

2024-05-02 14:01:03

To see more videos from user @thehillpolitics, please go to the Tikwm homepage.