By Michael Bielawski
A new law signed by the governor that prohibits discrimination due to hairstyles during the hiring process.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Kevin “Coach” Christie, D-Hartford, Rep. Michael Mrowicki, D-Putney, and seven others. There is at least one Republican supporter who is Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Northfield.
The text for Act 92 includes a definition of the word race that asserts if someone chose not to hire a person due to their hairstyle that could also be construed as an act of racism.
Its text states, “‘Race’ includes traits associated with or perceived to be associated with race, including hair type, hair texture, hairstyles, and protective hairstyles. As used in this subdivision, the term ‘protective hairstyles’ includes hairstyles such as individual braids, cornrows, locs, twists, Bantu knots, afros, afro puffs, and other formations, as well as wigs, headwraps, and other head coverings.”
Spoken testimony by Amy Harrington, a concerned parent from Windsor, about her duaghter’s experience with hair discimination. She spoke to the House Committee on General and Housing on Jan. 11, it begins about 36 minutes into this committee recording.
“The conversation about hair is about much more than the appearance of people,” she said. “It’s about individuality, it’s about being genuine to yourself and who you are, it’s about feeling confident in your skin, and I think that we all want that.”
She shared that her daughter who is of Jamaican and Indian descent has experienced discrimination based on her hair and they believe it was race-related.
“She has had quite a hair journey… she had a straightener and she straightened it every single day,” she said. She said that her daughter got a lot of mean comments due to her hair being different from most of her classmates.
Testimony submitted included an infographic submitted by Saudia LaMont, a Vermont House candidate for the Lamoille-Washington District.
The supportive document states, “The freedom to take pride in one’s appearance in a manner that feels in alignment with the traits associated with their race and culture, improves confidence, self-esteem, dignity and respect. If passed, people who choose to wear their “natural” hair will have the same protections from discrimination, harassment, and bullying as other protected classes.”
“Racism under another name?”
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund states that discrimination based on hair is really racism in another form.
Their webpage states, “For decades, LDF has recognized natural hair discrimination as racism by another name. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF has worked to end race-based hair discrimination.”
It further states, “Hair discrimination is rooted in systemic racism, and often helps preserve white spaces. Policies that further hair discrimination advance white Anglo-Saxon Protestant cultural norms as the default norms to which everyone should adhere. Hair and grooming policies that prohibit natural hairstyles — like afros, braids, bantu knots, and locs — have been used to justify the removal of Black children from classrooms and Black adults from their employment.”
On X, social media activists do assert in numerous posts that certain hairstyles are perceived as unprofessional as a form of white supremacy. @rhemaspov wrote, “white supremacy is the reason our hair is seen as ghetto and unprofessional and it’s the same reason they can wear our hairstyles and receive zero backlash or discrimination for it.”
A federal counterpart bill
There’s a federal bill, known as the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), that addresses discrimination based on hairstyles. Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who is the lead sponsor of the bill, said during a House floor debate that some people “think because your hair is kinky, it is braided, it is in knots or it is not straightened blonde and light brown, that you somehow are not worthy of access.” She further called it a form of discrimination.
An Associated Press report also notes that the federal bill seems to largely be about race at least as much as it is about hair. Their report states, “Black people who wear hairstyles like Afros, cornrows or tightly coiled twists should not face bias in society, school and the workplace, the U.S. House said Friday in voting to make it explicit that such discrimination is a violation of federal civil rights law.”
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle