Laws Banning Discrimination Related to Hairstyles May Reach Your State

Efforts to prevent students and employees from experiencing discrimination based on their hairstyles are spreading around the country. California’s Crown Act, which became law on January 1, is serving as the model for 24 other states considering legislation making it illegal to discriminate against minorities wearing braids, dreadlocks, or twists.

Last month at the Academy Awards, the animated short, Hair Love, won an Oscar for best animated short film. The film is about a man who must do his daughter’s hair for the first time. Producers Matthew Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver talked about the negative message Black Americans receive about their hairstyles.

She said, “We have a firm belief that representation matters deeply, especially in cartoons because in cartoons, that’s where we first see ourselves…that shape ourselves and the way we see ourselves in the world.”

“There’s a very important issue that’s out there, the Crown Act,” Cherry said as he accepted the Oscar. “And, if we can get it passed in all 50 states it will help stories like DeAndre Arnold’s, who’s our special guest tonight start to happen.”

Arnold and his mother were invited to the Awards ceremony by Cherry and Rupert Toliver. Arnold is a senior at a Texas High School where administrators have told him he will have to cut his dreadlocks before he can march at his upcoming graduation. The teen and his family made headlines after they questioned the policy which had not been enforced until this year. DeAndre Hopkins, a NFL player who also had locks, encouraged Arnold in his attempt to work with the school district and reach an agreement

Another high school student, Asia Simo, recently faced a similar situation when she was removed from the cheerleading team at her school after a policy imposing demerits for not wearing the hairstyle her peers wore cost her a position on the squad.

A spokeswoman for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, which advocated for the California Crown Act, said in a recent UPI interview, “Our hairstyles influence the way employers and teachers treat us.”

As more incidents involving alleged injustice centered on hairstyles associated with Black Americans make news, the momentum for legislation seems poised to increase.