New Jersey Approves Hair Discrimination Bill

New Jersey became the third state this year to pass a bill inspired by the CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination based on the style or texture of someone’s hair.

What We Know:

• The decision comes a year after an Atlantic High School wrestler Andrew Johnson was asked to cut his locs or forfeit the match. Video of the teen having his hair cut off mid-match went viral and caused widespread outrage including New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy.
• The New Jersey Assembly Labor Committee approved the bill with an 8-0 vote but it must be signed by Murphy before it can be enacted into law. It aims to “protect people of color facing discrimination based on their hairstyle” and would amend the Law Against Discrimination so that the term “race” includes “traits historically associated with race, including hair texture, hair type and protective hairstyles,” a press release states.
• The law is sponsored by Democratic Reps. Angela McKnight, Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Shanique Speight and Britnee Timberlake. The legislation was modeled after California’s “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act,” or CROWN.
• A study, conducted by Dove, found Black women are 50% more likely to be sent home or to know a Black woman who has been sent home from work because of her hair.
• It was revealed that Gabrielle Union recently experienced hair discrimination on the set of America’s Got Talent, reports showed that the co-host was told multiple times that her rotating hairstyles were “too black” for their audience.
• Democratic Candidate Cory Booker said “Discrimination against Black hair is discrimination against Black people. Implicit and explicit biases against natural hair are deeply ingrained in workplace norms and society at large. This is a violation of our civil rights, and it happens every day for Black people across the country.”
• Here’s a clip on New York’s Anti-Discrimination Law:

This bill shows that there is still a vast amount of work to be done for the advancement of black and brown people and all that comes with us.