Anti-hair discrimination movement gains momentum

25th July 2022   ·   0 Comments

By C.C. Campbell-Rock
Contributing Writer

Natural hair and hair discrimination was a significant focus of this year’s Essence Festival of Culture, including the hosting of a three-day celebration of the CROWN Act and the unveiling of mural paying homage to Black women and their hair.

Essence partnered with Unilever’s Dove Brand executives and the Crown Coalition for its third commemoration of the anti-discrimination law.

As part of this year’s commemoration, Dove commissioned a custom CROWN mural to be displayed in New Orleans. The mural, painted by New Orleans visual artist Journey Allen, located at 633 Carondelet in the Warehouse District, comes as part of a partnership between Dove, the New Orleans Mayor’s Office and the Arts Council of New Orleans.

The mural was conceptualized to honor and celebrate Black women and their bodies, particularly in a world where they are forced to endure harassment and discrimination because of their hair, skin and bodies in public spaces.

Of the mural, Allen said, “Beautiful Black woman; paying homage to our presence on this earth, and it’s also a reflection of the CROWN Act that allows Black women to wear their hair in public schools and workspaces without being hassled and being able to fully extend themselves to the opportunities of success available to them beyond what they look like. So (the mural) is just celebrating life, love, and celebrating the Black woman and her hair.”

Allen’s art is the nation’s second CROWN mural. The first CROWN mural, painted by Candice Taylor, was unveiled in July 2021 in Washington D.C.

The CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” is a law that prohibits hair discrimination, which is the denial of employment and educational opportunities because of hair texture or protective hairstyles. It prohibits discrimination based on natural hair style and texture, such as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, afros, and/or the right to keep hair in an uncut or untrimmed state.”

The CROWN Act was first introduced in January 2019 by California State Senator Holly Mitchell and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on July 3, 2019. During the Essence Festival, Mitchell and Dove’s executives took to the spotlight to discuss the CROWN Act.

“We were challenging the Eurocentric model of not just beauty but acceptance,” the legislator told Unilever’s Esi Eggleston Bracey and Dre Brown.

Mitchell underscored that her job performance is not diminished whether she wears her hair straight or “rocking my locs.” “I’m proud we were able to launch into a global conversation that Black Lives do matter and the experience of Black people in the workplace and school matters as well.”

Mitchell’s bill was the first legislation in American history to outlaw hair discrimination against workers and students based on their natural hair. #PassTheCrown: A Movement to Help End Hair Discrimination reached the U.S. Congress and resulted in the House of Representatives passing H.R.2116, the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act on March 18, 2022. The ACT prohibits discrimination based on a person’s hair texture or hairstyle if that style or texture is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin.

Specifically, the bill prohibits discrimination against those participating in federally assisted programs, housing programs, public accommodations, and employment. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) reintroduced the CROWN Act in March 2021.

“Natural Black hair is often deemed ‘unprofessional’ simply because it does not conform to white beauty standards,” said Rep. Watson Coleman. “Discrimination against Black hair is discrimination against Black people. I’m proud to have played a part to ensure that we end discrimination against people for how their hair grows out of their head.”

Two weeks before the Essence Festival of Culture began in New Orleans, Governor John Bel Edwards signed Louisiana’s CROWN Act into law.

“Hair discrimination is racial discrimination and discrimination is not a Louisiana value,” Governor Edwards tweeted.

“Louisiana is the first state in the deep South to pass the CROWN Act,” State Representative Candace N. Newell (D-Dist. 99) said. With the codification of Newell’s bipartisan legislation on June 21, 2022, Louisiana became the 17th state to pass the anti-discrimination law.

To its credit, the New Orleans City Council approved a version of the CROWN Act in December 2020.

It’s not a stretch to say that Louisiana legislators legitimized hair discrimination centuries ago. The tignon law (also known as the chignon law) was a 1786 law enacted by the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Esteban Rodríguez Miró, that forced Black women to wear a tignon headscarf. The law was intended to halt plaçage (interracial) unions and tie freed Black women to those who were enslaved.

Newell told The Louisiana Weekly that she was motivated to write the bill after seeing news coverage about two northern Louisiana women who lost their jobs after deciding to wear their natural hair. “It wasn’t because of work performance. It was because of their hair,” Newell commented.

“I’ve had close friends overlooked for jobs. One friend was told, ‘Your hair doesn’t fit in with our work culture.’ “He started his own company, and he’s doing well.”

WWL-TV Anchor Sheba Turk started working in television in 2013. “There was an unspoken rule that hair should be straight,” said Turk, who also said she wore wigs and weaves and chemically straightened her hair. Then she began thinking, “‘Can I be myself? Can I wear my hair as it grows out of my head?’ So, in 2018, I began wearing my natural hair.”

Turk said her bosses support her choice to wear her natural hair. However, to this day, she still experiences “natural hair drama” and “Black hair racism” from viewers.

“People were angry. We got calls and emails. I still get them to this day,” she explained. One viewer wrote, “You have your nerve, appearing like that on T.V. with your hair all wacked out. You look like hell. Straight out of Africa.”

Turk doesn’t get a lot of flak for wearing braids, but they get most angry about the Afro,” she continued. Recently, a light-skinned Black woman criticized her hair choice at a grocery store. “I used to love watching you, but you don’t comb your hair anymore.”

Turk attributes hair discrimination to American society adopting a “European beauty standard” and expecting women of color to conform to a standard where straight hair is the norm, but curly and kinky hair are unacceptable. “And it’s a problem. I think the CROWN Act is perfect. I’m so happy to see our state pass the law,” she said.

Others are not as fortunate as Turk. Undoubtedly Imani Jackson influenced the state to pass the CROWN Act. Attorneys said Jackson stopped wearing wigs and began wearing her natural hair in a “neat bun” on her job. Within a month, she was fired.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued American Screening, LLC, a drug and medical testing supplies distributor in Shreveport, Louisiana, for terminating Jackson, saying the company violated Jackson’s civil rights. EEOC is seeking back pay and compensation for the employee’s emotional suffering. (Read more at: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/american-screening-sued-eeoc-race-discrimination.)

“Hair discrimination is rooted in systemic racism, and its purpose is to preserve white spaces. Policies that prohibit natural hairstyles, like afros, braids, bantu knots, and locs, have been used to justify the removal of Black children from classrooms, and Black adults from their employment. With no nationwide legal protections against hair discrimination, Black people are often left to risk facing consequences at school or work for their natural hair or invest time and money to conform to Eurocentric professionalism and beauty standards,” according to the NAACP-LDF.

Research suggests Black women with natural hairstyles, such as curly afros, braids, or twists, are often perceived as less professional than Black women with straightened hair, particularly in industries where norms dictate a more conservative appearance.

The findings, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, offer empirical evidence that societal bias against natural Black hairstyles infiltrates the workplace and perpetuates race discrimination, said Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, a management professor and senior associate dean. They conducted the research at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Newell also expressed concerns about youth who face hair discrimination.

“Young Black girls like Faith are the reason I pushed to pass the CROWN Act here in Louisiana and why I will continue to fight against all discrimination,” Newell explains. “Children don’t need another layer of stress.”

• Faith Fennidy attended Christ the King Elementary School in Terrytown. When she was in sixth grade in 2018, the school created a dress code that banned the braids Fennidy wore.

• Jimmy Hoffmeyer, a Michigan father, filed a $1 million lawsuit in 2021 after a teacher cut 7-year-old Jurnee Hoffmeyer’s hair without her parents’ permission.

• The parents of a 12-year-old Black boy from Minnesota were shocked when he came home from school last week, missing his Afro. They learned that his teacher cut his hair without their permission.

• Andrew Johnson, a 16-year-old Buena Regional High School wrestler in New Jersey, was forced to cut his locks immediately or forfeit a wrestling match in 2018.

• DeAndre Arnold, a Texas teen, who was kept out of high school graduation over the length of his hair, successfully sued the school district and inspired the Texas Legislature to pass the CROWN ACT.

Quoting studies, Newell says the first interaction of Black youth with hair discrimination occurs at age 5. “The psychological damage can last a lifetime,” Newell added.

In the case of the 12-year-old, his mother said when the teacher cut his hair, “It just demoralized him, just take his pride away. And now his hair is being put in a situation where people are dictating how he should look.”

Faith Fennidy overcame the hair discrimination she endured and must have felt a level of comfort around the Essence promoters who take hair discrimination seriously.

Fennidy presented Essence’s 2022 Living Legend Award to the New Orleans 3 (Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Provost), who integrated McDonogh 19, the same day Ruby Bridges integrated France Elementary School.

As part of Essence’s CROWN Act celebration, Unilever’s Dove Brand executives hosted a private breakfast, unveiled the mural, and concluded the commemoration on the Third National Crown Act Day, July 3, 2022, with an awards ceremony.

The CROWN Coalition is the official national supporter of the CROWN Act Movement; an alliance founded by Dove, National Urban League, Western Center on Law & Poverty, and Color of Change, along with 100+ CROWN Act supporting organizations.

Representative Newell changed the narrative in former State Representative Cedric Richmond’s CROWN Act bill to include various races who have embraced protective hairstyles. “Some Jewish people have curly and naturally wavy hair,” she offered. Newell said she faced objections to the legislation. Several companies reached out. Among them was Tatum Neill, a master stylist with Aveda Arts & Sciences Institute, who testified in favor of Newell’s bill.

The Louisiana Board of Cosmetology (BOC) took steps in 2021 to engage the cosmetology industry in working with customers’ natural hair. The BOC revised its testing requirements to now include textured hair training throughout the state.

Textured hair includes wavy, curly and coily hair, and the new resolution’s aim is to educate future cosmetologists and stylists on how to care for those specific hair types.

An estimated 65 percent of the U.S. population has curly, coily or wavy hair, according to Naturally Curly’s eighth edition of its TextureTrends report. However, Aveda global artistic director Renee Gadar, who was also instrumental in Louisiana’s recent change, told ABC local affiliate KATC that Louisiana will become the first state to make textured hair training a requirement for cosmetologists.

“The CROWN Act must be passed on a federal level because all our children deserve to feel comfortable being themselves,” Representative Newell said. “We have no control over how our hair grows out of our scalp, no more than we can control our melanin.”

Currently, S.888 – CROWN Act of 2021 by Senator Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) and 27 co-sponsors is still sitting in the Committee on the Judiciary.

This article originally published in the July 25, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.