Virginia becomes the first South American state to implement The Crown act, this law prohibits racist discrimination based on hairstyles.
Virginia is the fourth American state, and the first in the South, to adopt, since March, The Crown Act, a law that prohibits racist discrimination in the workplace and in schools against black people who wear their hair naturally or with braids, locks and twists, can be read in The Guardian.
The initiative was sponsored by the delegate from the State of Virginia, Delores McQuinn. But it’s California senator Holly Mitchell who created this first law called Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or CROWN, Act. The bill, which was passed unanimously, became law last year. New York and New Jersey were inspired by California and adopted their own version.
This project arose out of incidents in which children were disciplined in schools or employees were fired for wearing afro, dreadlocks or braids. Marcos Johnson, an entrepreneur, told the Guardian that black men with long hair are often considered dangerous. In his Oscar-winning speech, Matthew A. Cherry, director of Hair Love, a 2019 animated film about a black father who learns to style his daughter's curls, urged all states to pass the CROWN law. Deandre Arnold, a black teenager, was suspended from high school in Texas and banned from a graduation ceremony because he had not cut his dreadlocks.
The British media also recalls that in 2014, Whennah Andrews, of the United States Army National Guard, challenged many restrictions within his corporation. The latter would have banned dreadlocks and other hairstyles associated with the black community, according to the Guardian. After a three-year legal battle, the military overturned its ban on natural hairstyles.
These facts are not new as discrimination against black hair dates back centuries. For example, in Louisiana in the 18th century, black women had to wear headgear to conceal their natural hair, under the Tignon law. A way to deny their identity.
Nowadays, American regulations concerning Afro hairstyles are incomplete. Four years ago, a federal court ruled that it was legal for employers to fire employees or refuse candidates simply because they had styled their hair using techniques commonly used by black Americans. And most states don't have anti-hair discrimination laws, although they are real. Colorado passed CROWN in March, soon after Virginia, and 13 states have comparable legislation under review.