First-year Digital Film student, Nairobi Williams, wears her hair in a natural Black style without extension hair or chemical relaxers to change its texture.
“Growing up, my grandma put [a chemical relaxer] into my sister’s hair and her hair suffered really badly. And I have a sensitive scalp so my mom, she was never the type of person to put anything bad in my hair. But, when I started going to the hair salons and stuff like that, that’s when they started putting relaxers in my hair secretly and that’s when my hair fell out and stuff like that,” says Williams.
Williams, who attended Lord Stirling Elementary School in New Brunswick, says, “I went to a predominantly white elementary school. So it’s like I don’t know, I would always have my hair flat ironed.”
The pressure on Black people, especially women, to adopt unnatural hairstyles is because of the so called “eurocentric beauty standard,” and the pressure goes back to the pre-colonial times of this country. Black people who didn’t conform to racist hair standards often found themselves discriminated against.
“Growing up, my grandma [put a chemical relaxer] into my sister’s hair and her hair suffered really bad. And I have a sensitive scalp so my mom, she was never the type of person to put anything bad in my hair. But, when I started going to the hair salons and stuff like that, that’s when they started putting relaxers in my hair secretly and that’s when my hair fell out and stuff like that.”
-Nairobi Williams, Digital Film major
The C.R.O.W.N ACT, a bill to protect against textured hair discrimination at the federal level, was reintroduced by New Jersey Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman but was initially blocked by two Republicans in the House of Representatives despite passing unanimously through a voice vote in 2020.
The anti hair discrimination bill was passed in the House and currently waits to see its fate in the Senate. New Jersey is one of the many states who have passed variations of the bill but the goal in Congress is to make nationwide protection for every Black individual.
The bill stands for, “Creating A Respectful Open World for Natural Hair” and was created to protect Black individuals from being discriminated against based on hair texture and protective hairstyles in any environment.
“I think my overall opinion is that it is unfortunate that there has to be a law made to protect something that we can’t control. But I think that it is still good efforts being made.”
– Angel Agyeman, Business Admin major
Protective hairstyles are ones that protect Black hair in its natural state from breaking off. These styles can include box braids, twists, locs, dreads, cornrows, wigs and weaves.
Representative Coleman said in an interview, “The C.R.O.W.N act expands the definition of unlawful discrimination to include a prohibition against denying a person access to a job, or public accommodations, or to federally funded programs because your hair is either styled in a certain way, or is just worn in a certain way, or representative of a certain way that is closely associated with being Black.”
The New Jersey version of the bill was passed after an outcry following a 2018 incident where high school wrestler Andrew Johnson was forced to cut his dreadlocks to participate in a wrestling match. Johnson was told he had 90 seconds to decide and if he refused to cut his dreads, he would have to forfeit the match, so they were cut off by a trainer as they stood at the side of the gymnasium.
“The way my hair grows out of my head is who I am, and reflects who I am. So when we talk about standards of professionalism, I ask ‘whose standards are they?’”
– Dr. Yannick Ladson – Director of the Counseling Center
Two 15-year old sisters, Deanne and Mya Cook, from a charter school in Massachusetts, originally inspired the push for a C.R.O.W.N act. The girls wore their hair in braids with extensions and were threatened with suspension, faced hours of detention, and were banned from participating in track and softball and even the prom if they did not remove their hair. The school told them that their hair violated their “Hair Make Up Policy.”
The sisters pushed back against the school’s discrimination and the Massachusetts Attorney General eventually stepped in and ordered school officials to abandon the rule. The girls became activists supporting C.R.O.W.N bills in many states.
In addition to schools, the C.R.O.WN Act will protect people against hair discrimination in the workforce.
“My parents had a big part in making me feel not ashamed for my hair because my mom would tell me how beautiful she thought it was. But, I would still be wanting to have my hair straightened, just to match with my friends not ever being ashamed of it but you want to relate to the people you are around.”
Jay Bolling, Education major
According to the American Bar Association, research surrounding Black hair discrimination found that “80 percent of African American women felt they needed to switch their hairstyle to align with more conservative standards to fit in at work.”
According to a study conducted about the natural hair bias in employment by Christy Zhou Koval and Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, “We found that Black women with natural hairstyles were perceived to be less professional, less competent, and less likely to be recommended for a job interview than Black women with straightened hairstyles and White women with either curly or straight hairstyles.”
In a famous 1981 workplace suit Renee Rogers, a Black flight attendant for American Airlines sued her employers for discrimination against her cornrows, a traditional style of braiding where the hair is braided close to the scalp.
Rogers lost her case when the judge dismissed it saying her braids were not a reflection of her Black African heritage and her race but simply a style she adopted by watching white actor, Bo Derek, who had worn the appropriated hairstyle in a movie from the time.
“I used to straighten my hair for all of seventh grade to the point where I actually ended up damaging it. It was burnt and the hair ties I used caused it to break and along with the stress it ended up falling out a lot.”
– Benny Tirado, Theater major
The federal C.R.O.W.N Act, if passed, would work together with other employment discrimination laws that are now in place to protect Black people across the country.
Beyond employment and schooling, discrimination based on hair has an impact on the mental health of minorities.
Linda Terry, a licensed clinical psychologist says “Throughout our lives, we have received messages in the media, society, and from our own families about our hair texture. In short, the message warns us that if we want to be taken seriously in professional and educational spaces, we must subscribe to an ideal of beauty that centers on Whiteness and minimize qualities that are uniquely Black.”
Briana Rouzard, liberal arts student says that as a child “I would feel uncomfortable because I was having trouble with my hair for a very long time. Because my family did not accept the concept of natural hair, because that is not what they like. So I didn’t have the freedom to do what I wanted.”
“For Black women, people are learning to break down another barrier. And it’s just like now I don’t have to worry about being told that a huge part of my identity that’s determined by genetics and that I don’t have control over is going to get in the way of my going on to pursue anything.”
– Briana Rouzard, Liberal Arts major
If the C.R.O.WN Act is passed in the Senate, where the lead sponsor is New Jersey senator Cory Booker, the bill will protect young and older Black adults throughout the school as well as the work environment.
Jay Bolling, second-year Mercer student and education major, at MCCC says “My parents had a big part in making me feel not ashamed of my hair because my mom would tell me how beautiful she thought it was. But, I would still be wanting to have my hair straightened, just to match with my friends not ever being ashamed of it but you want to relate to the people you are around.”
Representative Coleman says “I can’t predict what the Senate will do. I just pray that they find it within their heart and soul to do the right thing.”
PHOTOS – Bruna Camara and Elijah Parkman-Williams
