The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
CROWN Act about much more than hair
I’ve always loved to wear my hair in different hairstyles. One day a bun, mostly straight with a few curls on the end another day, and braids when I’ve run out of other ideas. Some people keep the same hairstyle for decades. That’s not me.
My frequent change in hairstyle has been very confusing for some of my white coworkers and classmates over the decades. “I didn’t even recognize you,” they’d say. I always found this hard to believe because I was literally the only Black person in the workplace or classroom. I figured it was their way of striking a conversation about my hair without directly asking me what and how and when I had time to do it.
On Tuesday, during a public hearing before the state Legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee, I listened to several Black women share their own stories about how their white colleagues also commented on and harshly critiqued their hair choices. In some cases they stopped them from advancing professionally. They were speaking in support of The CROWN Act (“Creating a Respectful and
Open World for
Natural Hair”), legislation that would make it illegal to discriminate against Black women’s hair styles and hair textures.
The CROWN Act has been passed in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, California and Washington.
“It’s interesting to me ... that we have to have a bill to give us as Black women, AfricanAmericans, Caribbeans, permission to show up as our most authentic self,” said Bloomfield Mayor Suzette DeBeathamBrown during her testimony.
I agree that it is a shameful indication of the racism that exists in our state; however, like DeBeatham-Brown, I am in full support of the CROWN Act.
As Black women, we don’t always love our hair, but we care about it, and we respect it. We invest our time, money and energy into it. We get our hair done or we do our own hair after work, during our lunch breaks, overnight, on Saturday mornings ... sometimes it takes all of Saturday. We are watching YouTube videos for ideas and new techniques for twisting, braiding, straightening, curling, cleaning, moisturizing, weaving and covering our hair. If we are not physically doing something to our hair, then we’re thinking about it, and we’re talking about it with our friends, sisters, moms and aunties. We are not going to continue to let people disrespect something that is such an intimate part of who we are.
State Rep. Stephanie Thomas also said after she cut her hair short, her boss asked her if she was going to grow it back. At that point in her career, she knew she would have to go into business for herself.
I’ve felt similar feelings, going to job interviews with hair that I’d just straightened for that sole purpose. I’d often ask myself if I thought the job was worth the heat damage, and if I really wanted to work in an environment where I’d felt required to change who I was.
There were numerous Black women who shared similar feelings and had experiences of being penalized, criticized, ostracized because of their hair.
I’ve often written about the subtle racism that I’ve endured in white work spaces regarding my hair. I’ve had former colleagues ask me if my hair is real and if they can touch it. I’ve had classmates ask me if I can wash it. I could understand if the questions were about methods used to achieve the style. These are questions about my humanness. They make me feel like I am an exhibit. I don’t want to feel like an exhibit at work or in a learning space.
The CROWN Act is more than just about hair. It addresses the entitlement that white supervisors and their companies have and the ways that they use hair as a way to control who will and will not succeed.
I’ve had former colleagues ask me if my hair is real and if they can touch it. I’ve had classmates ask me if I can wash it.
Stacy Graham-Hunt is a national-award winning columnist and author, who writes about race and culture. She is passionate about Black people telling their own stories. Email her at stacygrahamhunt@gmail.com or follow her on social media @stacyreports.