Last year on May 27, 2023, Texas Governor Gregory “Greg” Wayne Abbott signed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act into law, legislation particularly designed to eliminate racial and ethnic-based discrimination against individuals’ hairstyle, type, and/or texture in workplaces, schools, and housing policies. Abbott said, “No Texan should face discrimination based on their natural hair.” Texas became the twenty-first state to adopt the CROWN Act since it was originally enacted in California on July 3, 2019, and as of today, 22 states have since adopted the CROWN Act. The CROWN Act is a significant step towards racial and ethnic equality in the United States, particularly for those minorities such as African Americans.
A senior here at Stephen F. Austin High School in the Academy for Global Studies, Andrew “Andy” Billig-Barriga said, “For a job interview I changed my hair, thinking it would make a better first impression.”
According to a 2019 CROWN Research Study, conducted before the enactment of the CROWN Act, black women were 1.5 times more likely to face dismissal from their jobs due to their natural hair. This particular study also found that 80% of black women agreed that they had to change their hair from its natural state to fit in at the office. In a 2021 CROWN Research Study, it was found that 53% of black mothers said their daughters had experienced racial discrimination based on their hair as early as five years old. Also found in this particular study, 66% of black children in majority-white schools have faced race-based hair discrimination with 86% of those children having experienced it by the age of 12. A 2023 CROWN Act Workplace Research Study found that two of every three black women changed their hair for a job interview, among them, 41% changed their hair from curly to straight. It was also found in this study that black women were 54% more likely to feel like they had to wear their hair straight to a job interview to be successful.
Organizations such as the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) have advocated for eliminating hair-based discrimination since 2020. On LDF’s website, they stated, “Black hair is an expression of identity and culture.” They also commented, “It’s a representation of history and carries deep emotional significance. Historically, Black hair has carried a profound symbolism. Cornrows, locs, twists, afros, bantu knots, and more all have historic connections to Black pride, culture, religion, and history.” De’Andre Arnold, a client of the LDF, expressed his satisfaction with the passage of the CROWN Act in Texas, emphasizing the importance of natural hair to one’s identity and culture. Despite the adoption of the CROWN Act in Texas, instances of racial and ethnic discrimination based on hair have persisted, as shown in the relatively recent case of Darryl George.
Darryl George, a black eighteen-year-old junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, was suspended on the basis that his hair violated the school dress code policy, the school claiming that the CROWN Act does not cover hair length. The school claimed that Darryl George’s braided locs fell beneath his eyebrows and ear lobes, violating the school dress code policy, despite his hair being neatly braided and above both his eyebrows and ear lobes. He was first suspended on August 31, 2023, spending more than 80% of the school year outside of his regular classroom setting. Following, the suspension his family went to court over the ruling, stating the extended punishment was negatively affecting his education. On Thursday, February 22, 2024, a Texas State District Judge ruled that the case of Darryl George was not in violation of the CROWN Act, shocking many.
Darryl George said, “I love my hair. It is sacred, and it is my strength,” he also said, “All I want to do is go to school and be a model student. I am being harassed by school officials and treated like a dog.” This clear violation of the CROWN Act in the case of Darryl George has caused public outrage, with Darryl George’s mother, Ms. Darresha George saying, “We do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we are not giving up.”
With thousands of Texans having reported experiencing hair-based discrimination, the CROWN Act is a significant step as it works to eliminate hair-based discrimination in schools, workplaces, and housing. Adopting the act is merely a step of many towards achieving its mission, while there is still a lot of work to do the CROWN Act is an important step towards equality, but Texas still has a long way to go.
