Massachusetts has become the latest state to enact bans against hair-based discrimination after Gov. Charlie Baker signed The CROWN Act into law last month.
Dr. Amanda Wilkerson
The bill – Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or CROWN Act – was introduced in March by Massachusetts state representative Steven Ultrino,, who said that he wished the state had done this earlier.
"A lot of people don't understand other people's culture,” Ultrino said. “And this is a perfect example that we need to understand people's culture, people's hairstyles, the way people act or speak. And this just resonates that many of us need to understand our cultural diversity. And it happens to be, in this case, how people wear their hair, what their style is, what their natural hair style is."
With this signing, Massachusetts becomes the 18th state to enact The CROWN Act or laws inspired by the CROWN Act, joining California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, New Mexico, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Illinois, Maine, Tennessee, and Louisiana.
The CROWN Coalition – an alliance founded by organizations including Dove, National Urban League, Western Center on Law & Poverty and Color of Change – is an anti-discrimination advocacy group and creator of the CROWN Act movement.
The act specifically states that no school shall implement policies that impair or prohibit natural hairstyles and that workplace discrimination based on natural or protective hairstyles –which includes natural hair texture, as well as styles including twists, locs, braids, and bantu knots,
Scholars have responded to the legislation with both joy and cautious optimism.
