On March 18, 2022 the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.2116, the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act of 2022. The passage of the CROWN act would prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s hair texture or style. To date, there has not been a measure aimed at targeting race-based hair discrimination which permeates schools, employment offices and the personal lives of people of color.
For generations, places of work had the opportunity to discriminate against populations that have been historically marginalized for the presentation of their hair. For many people, this included loss of employment opportunities, aggressive remarks about their appearance and loss of confidence in the professional sector. This discrimination has a contribution to the socioeconomic divide for preventing Black communities from obtaining employment positions in majority-white spaces.
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With the CROWN Act, all institutions will be held accountable for the fair and equal treatment of all peoples, regardless of hairstyle or texture. The CROWN Act can also serve as a layer of comfort and protection for people of color. People have the freedom to embrace their hair as it naturally grows and not succumb to the standards this society has set.
Many young Black women across the country have been reared to know the laborious odyssey that must be endured for one’s hair to be deemed professional. For some, this included trips to the local beauty salon where you would be surrounded by the matriarchs of the community. For others, this consisted of staying at home while you suffered through what seemed like countless hours of tugging, pulling and styling. These tiring hours of manipulating our hair was due to the generations of conditioning; telling the racial and ethnic minority communities that our hair was not deemed acceptable or professional. Even at my historically Black college and university, Tuskegee University, we were taught the ways to style our hair for an interview because our senior professors knew the discrimination we would face. Now in the year 2022, we no longer have to manipulate ourselves for the standards of others and can walk in freedom to be our authentic selves.
In our society, the construct of beauty is framed around a Eurocentric lens. People of color internalize the images and positive affirmations associated with whiteness, resulting in isolation and lower self-confidence. This negative self-image not only harms the internal psyche, but also manifests externally in schools and workplaces. In 2019, Narvie J. Harris Theme School, an elementary school in DeKalb County, came under criticism for its display of hairstyles it deemed “inappropriate,” all of which featured Black hairstyles.
From a young age, children of color are subjected to messages of their inferiority with pressure to conform to the status quo. The harms elicited from this indoctrination last well into adulthood and permeate professional spaces. The 2019 Dove CROWN Research Study found that 80% of Black women felt the need to change their hair from its natural state to fit in at the office. In order to contrast the dominant standard, we must end the notion that certain hairstyles are unprofessional, particularly those worn in Black communities, including braids, locs, twists and knots.
The passage of the CROWN Act would mark an essential acknowledgement of hair as an ungovernable expression of self.
The fate of the CROWN Act now lies in the hands of the U.S. Senate. Our Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock is in support of this bill and is a co-sponsor of the Senate version S.888; however, this does not guarantee its passage. In support of the CROWN Act, we need to encourage our friends and families from all states to take action by emailing their U.S. senators and increasing awareness in their communities to end race-based hair discrimination nationwide.
Marta Taye is a third-year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine.
Lauren Jenkins is a first-year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine.
Tracey L. Henry, M.D., M.P.H., M.S. is an associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.
The authors’ views expressed here are their own and do not represent those of Emory University School of Medicine.
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