PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania House passed legislation that would ban discrimination based on a person’s hair type, texture or style.
Pittsburgh Democrat La’Tasha Mayes is the co-prime sponsor of the CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
“Every day in a workplace, a school or social venue, Black Pennsylvanians are experiencing the indignities of having to justify wearing their hair as it naturally grows out of their head,” Mayes said. “A black person can be denied employment, or fired from employment or face racism in the workplace because of their hair. And this is especially true for Black women.”
“A Black child, especially a Black girl, is having experiences with discrimination about their natural hair as early as five years old.”
Mayes’ bill would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to include a subsection under racial discrimination. She says it doesn’t prohibit any health safety or grooming standards in any profession or industry.
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“Without teaching the history of Black hair in America, the cliff notes version is that there is a prevailing norm or standard that, to be professional, to be valuable, to be acceptable, to be respectable your hair has to look a certain way.”
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, along with more than 20 other states, have passed the CROWN Act. Similar legislation was introduced in the past two House sessions, but it wasn’t taken up under Republican leadership.
It passed this session with bipartisan support 182-21 and is heading to the Senate.