Black Caucus reveals plans to propose CROWN Act in Texas
The Texas Legislative Black Caucus is working to develop a version of The CROWN Act for the 2021 Texas Legislative Session. The act the Black Caucus is proposing will ban discrimination based on hair textures and hairstyles that are associated with race.
CROWN which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair was started by the CROWN Coalition. The coalition began for the protection of black women and black girls against discrimination of hair based on hair texture and style, but as states adopt their own versions of the CROWN Act the act extends to women, men and children.
California was the first state to introduce the law into practice, and after California followed New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Minnesota, the Washington State House and the jurisdictions of Cincinnati, Ohio, Montgomery County and Maryland, and more states are considering the legislative.
The five Texas House of Representative members who will be drafting the act for Texas are Harold Dutton, D-Houston; Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City; Rhetta Bowers, D-Garland; Carl Sherman, D-DeSoto; Shawn Thierry, D-Houston; and State Board of Education member Aicha Davis. The act will be drafted to have an impact on workplaces as well as the school systems.
Aliya Beavers, University of Houston-Clearlake’s (UHCL) director of Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (OSDEI), said the CROWN Act being passed in Texas and other states are important.
“If you are accepted in one environment, then going into another environment and being accepted is and could be a natural occurrence,” Beavers said.
The CROWN Act being bought to Texas comes after DeAndre Arnold, a senior at Barber Hills High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, was suspended and told that he would not be able to graduate from the high school if he did not cut his dreadlocks. Arnold’s case is not the first case in Texas to have generated media attention associated with hair texture and style discrimination.
Other profiled Texas cases include Juelz Trice, a student at Berry Miller Middle School in Pearland, Texas. In August 2019, Trice was forced to fill in a hair design with a sharpie or opt for suspension. Another case follows a 4-year-old out of Tantum Primary School in Tantum, Texas, whose grandmother Randi Woodley was given a choice to cut Trimble’s hair or for the young child to wear a dress and to address himself as a girl.
On the UHCL campus, Sheridan Allison, vice president of the Black Student Association, spoke on the mistreatment of students like Arnold, Trice and Trimble when it comes to discrimination and punishment because of their hairstyles.
“When it comes to students, in particular, there’s a lot of focus on things other than education itself,” Allison said. “Growing up in public school in a small Texas town like DeAndre Arnold, I experienced similar backlash. If it wasn’t what was on my head, it was the fact that my shoulder was showing as a woman. And this doesn’t stop outside of school systems. Employment is no different. If the way you look does not negatively affect your ability to complete your assignments, then what’s the issue? At the end of the day, he’s a child, and we’re teaching our children that their appearances determine their worth.”
As Texas Representatives discuss the act passing in Texas, a petition supporting the CROWN Act is taking place on Change.org, the petition is called Pass the Texas Crown Act into Law.
For faculty, students and staff who want to learn more about natural hair and explore that topic, Nappy HairStories discussion, workshop and performance – hosted by OSDEI, Storytellers, and the Bayou Theater – with Laura D. Oliver will occur Feb. 24 and 25. Oliver is a scholar, performer, and aesthetic consultant. She received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of North Texas and is a Ph.D. candidate at Louisiana State University.
The Nappy HairStories is performed and created by Oliver to discuss the topic of politicized discourse surrounding black female hair. The discussion and workshop will be held in the student organization room at 4 p.m. and the performance will be held in the UHCL Bayou Theater at 7:30 p.m.
“We all have a relationship with hair,” Oliver said. “While black women have gone through more with their hair, other races/people can still find common ground in [the] workshop because we have all gone through a test to prove who we are to the world and often that starts with hair because it sends a nonverbal message before we introduce ourselves.”
CORRECTION: 3/1/20 – The Black Student Association did not host the Nappy HairStories events, as originally published. OSDEI, Storytellers and the Bayou Theater hosted the events.
