CROWN Act in Ohio?

Written by Terricha Phillips

The CROWN Act – Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair – is closer to becoming a statewide law protecting Ohioans against discrimination based on how their natural hair grows and how it is styled in jobs, housing and public schools. The co-sponsors of House Bill 178, Representatives Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) and Jamie Callender (R-Concord), re-introduced the bipartisan legislation in the chamber’s Civil Justice Committee. The bill passed with a 9-3 vote on June 4, according to an online report from Ohio Capital Journal. Republican state Representatives Gary Click, Al Cutrona and Brian voted against the bill.

Under Ohio’s Civil Rights Law, the bill would make it unlawful to discriminate against natural hair textures and protective styles and provide jurisdictional protection to someone who alleges their school has discriminated against them based on traits associated with their race. An amendment to the bill only holds public schools accountable under the law.

“My quest started from my lived experience talking to cousins, my parents, and other people who I consider as professionals with similar stories of not being able to wear braids to work, not being able to have their locs, and realizing I wasn’t alone with this,” said Brent, who testified on behalf of two Black children punished by their private schools in Cincinnati and Toledo because of their locs. “When I saw what they were doing in California…to see a state senator at the time have locs who was standing up for that, that made me feel seen and say I need to introduce legislation or Ohio too, so other people can feel seen.”

Natural hair in all forms and styles such as braids, twists, locs and Bantu knots, is protected from discrimination in cities that have passed similar legislation since the CROWN Act rose in national prominence in 2019 when U.S. House Representative Bonnie Watson-Coleman (NJ) and 83 legislators introduced H.R. 8191. The bill passed twice, only to be stalled by the Republican majority in the Senate. The same bill was reintroduced this spring in the House, and Texas is the 25th state to pass its own version of the law. In Mont Belvieu, a town 40 minutes away from Houston, a Black male high school student was suspended in 2023 for more than a month for wearing locs extending past his ears that violated school dress code. In February, a judge ruled that Barbers Hill School District officials did not discriminate against Darryl George’s hairstyle due to the state’s CROWN Act not exempting longer protective hairstyles involving locs. George and his mother sued Gov. Greg Abbott and the state’s attorney general for failing to enforce their version of CROWN Act, and the lawsuit is before a federal judge in Galveston.

Meanwhile, the CROWN Act is law in multiple Ohio cities, including Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland Heights, Columbus and Newburgh Heights. No bill has yet been introduced by Cleveland City Council. Cleveland native Rep. Brent is on her own natural hair journey, sporting protective braided styles on the House floor, and will ot give up until CROWN Act covers all Ohioans of all ethnicities. Brent’s consistency with educating her Black and white peers over the years raised more support for the bill that made it out of committee after the fourth time.

The presence of natural hair (for Black people in particular) sparks interest, intrigue, confusion or disgust, dating back to American slavery when enslaved Africans styled their hair in braids for working on plantations. Eurocentric styles influenced lighter-skinned house slaves to straighten their hair as an elevated status, but it didn’t result in any greater respect for their hard work. Natural hair evolved to a symbol of power and identity in political discourse during the 1970s and 1980s where Black folks traded lye relaxers for Afros. The movement picked up steam in the early 2000s when Black women let go of harsh relaxer treatments that burned their scalps, split their ends between touch-ups and a host of other complications. Cleveland Heights Council Vice President Davida Russell saw the rising trend and eventually went from straightening her hair to embracing its natural texture during the pandemic, saving her 45 minutes while getting ready for work.

Russell in 2020 introduced a version of CROWN Act to the city council as the only African-American member at the time, but her colleagues wanted to support their constituents in all sectors of society. “Change happens locally, so the more residents talk to their council members and stress how important it is for people to be protected for how they wear their hair so it’s not a stigma anymore and helps the community,” said Russell, who also serves as chair of the Labor and Industry Committee for Cleveland NAACP, another supporting organization.

The Dove and CROWN Coalition has produced research studies revealing that racial discrimination based on hairstyles starts as early as five years old and lasts a lifetime. Dove and LinkedIn’s 2023 workplace research study brings greater awareness to the issue of systemic social and economic impact of hair bias against Black women in the workplace. The study pointed out that Black women’s hair is 2.5 times more likely to be perceived as unprofessional and approximately 66 percent of Black women surveyed have changed their hair from curly to straight for a job interview. Furthermore, 25 percent of Black women believe they have been denied a job because of their hair, a greater likelihood for women under age 34.

The journey to acceptance of natural hair has significant effects on one’s self-image, health and well-being, evidenced by ongoing discrimination in schools, workplaces and inter/intrapersonal relationships, according to an August 2023 article published n the National Library of Medicine’s Health Equity journal. Authors stated that racial discrimination is associated with numerous poor health outcomes like anxiety, depression and suicidal ideations. The article concludes the delayed passage of the CROWN Act on a national level shows more work is needed to ensure people have the choice to style their hair however they choose while engaging in fulfilling activities leading to healthy lifestyles and positive health outcomes.

To continue these conversations in the community, individuals can contact their elected officials with their stories or join advocacy organizations like the Cleveland NAACP and Central Ohio chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. There are blogs on the Internet affirming the natural hair journey, and natural hair clubs bring people together to share stories and tips for textured hair care.

From educating clients in her salon chair to advocacy work with Rep. Brent and Councilwoman Russell, Ladosha Wright of Cleveland Heights hosts workshops like The Afro Hair Summit on love and care for natural hair textures. In her activism work, she produces documentaries and authored best-selling children’s books “Curly Hair Adventures” and “What They Don’t Tell You at the Hair Salon.”

Last year, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and Women In Law assembled educators, community organizers, politicians and attorneys for a Hot Talks seminar about the CROWN Act’s legal implications on personal appearance, and attendees learned strategies for advocating its adoption and enforcement in key areas of religion, gender and grooming issues related to cultural identity in the workplace.

Regina Anderson-Walston, educator and assistant secretary for the Cleveland Chapter of the Ohio Association of Beauticians has conversations with cosmetology students and salon clients of all ethnicities about how to avoid hair discrimination in their careers. Having more than 30 years of experience in the hair business and a master’s degree in hair psychology, Anderson-Walston wants more beauty and barber schools to implement more curriculum on the science and styling of natural hair and wants to teach foster parents of multiracial children everything they need to know from equipment to shampoos, brushes and styling.

“I still think discrimination is a widespread problem until we all have a conversation…more panels and workshops in the workplace, in hair classes, even with employers,” Anderson-Walston said. “I have quite a few clients that wear locs for their religion, so if you discriminate against that, you discriminate against their religion, so you have to be careful. If you don’t ask, you don’t know, and disregard their religion and how they feel.”