Crown Act Advances, Seeks Protection Against Hairstyle and Texture Discrimination

Following the rhetoric of a dozen states, the Education and Workforce Development Committee voted to advance legislation during Tuesday’s hearing seeking the adoption of the Crown Act, which was first campaigned in 2019 in partnership with former California-based Sen. Holly Mitchell.

The Crown Act is an acronym for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act.” It would offer protection against race-based hairstyle and texture discrimination in employment, housing, accommodation, and educational environments if signed into law. Some of the protected hairstyles named in the legislation include braids, locks, twists, cornrows, Bantu knots, and Afros.

The bill is sponsored by Senators Alma Francis Heyliger and Genevieve Whitaker, who narrowly amassed enough support for the act that it was advanced in a 4–2 vote. Opponents of the legislation thought the bill needed additional vetting, and at least one senator wasn’t sure the legislation needed to exist.

Sen. Kurt Vialet said, “Black America does not reflect the Black Virgin Islands. It is not every single thing that Black America, the direction they move in, is necessary for the Virgin Islands. Many times, the issues that they are facing in Black America we are not facing in the Black Virgin Islands.”

However, testifiers like Denise Benjamin, who organizes the “I am Beautiful Natural Hair Care and Expo” conferences in the territory where individuals come together to change the dialogue about natural hair, contradicted Vialet and said the problem does exist in the territory.

“I listened to story after story from women who were told that their hair was not workplace appropriate, of how their hair had to be tamed if they were to be considered for jobs on the front lines of business retail stores, professional work environments, and even in the medical world. Of how official school handbooks mandated their children to tie in or cut off their tresses as not to be a distraction in their classrooms, and the list goes on,” Benjamin said.

Though committee members contested the need for the bill, additional testifiers championed the act. They shared personal anecdotes where hair discrimination in the territory has taken place, highlighting the negative educational experience that can result for children without adopting the Crown Act.