Texas measure to target hairstyle bias

HOUSTON — The Texas Legislative Black Caucus has announced that it’s working on a bill that would ban discrimination based on hair textures and styles commonly associated with racial heritage after the suspension of a black high school student near Houston.

State lawmakers, accompanied by black officials and advocates, introduced the measure Thursday at a news conference, the Texas Tribune reported.

Called the CROWN Act, an acronym for Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, the measure would protect against “unjust grooming policies that have a disparate impact on black children, women, and men” in workplaces and public schools, CROWN Coalition advocate Adjoa Asamoah said. The coalition is a national alliance of organizations working to end hair discrimination.

The bill is a show of support for students like Deandre Arnold, who was suspended from Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and won’t be able to attend graduation unless he cuts his dreadlocks.

Barbers Hill Independent School District, which includes Hill High, prohibits boys from having hair that falls below their eyebrows or ears.

State Democratic Rep. Rhetta Bowers said the coalition approached her about a year ago to file such a bill in Texas.

“These conversations are just becoming public now,” Bowers said. “People in our community were having these conversations around the kitchen table or in beauty salons and barber shops.”

The bill is expected to be introduced for the 2021 Texas legislative session.