• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

E868 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks September 22, 2020 SAVANNA’S ACT AND NOT JOY Collective (CROWN Act Coalition, Dove/ lowed to walk at graduation because his INVISIBLE ACT Unilever, National Urban League, Color of dreadlocks were too long. Change), Black people are ‘‘disproportionately The CROWN Act prohibits discrimination in HON. GREG STANTON burdened by policies and practices in public federally funded programs and activities based places, including the workplace, that target, OF ARIZONA on an individual’s hair texture or hairstyle if it profile, or single them out for their natural hair IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES is commonly associated with a particular race styles—referring to the texture of hair that is or national origin, including ‘‘a hairstyle in Tuesday, September 22, 2020 not permed, dyed, relaxed, or chemically al- which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, Mr. STANTON. Madam Speaker, I offer my tered.’’ locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, stanch support for Savanna’s Act and the Not The CROWN Study found that Black wom- and Afros.’’ en’s hair is ‘‘more policed in the workplace, Invisible Act. It is a horrific fact that Native The legislation also provides that the prohi- thereby contributing to a climate of group con- American women face a murder rate ten times bition will be enforced as if it was incorporated trol in the company culture and perceived pro- higher than the national average, with eighty- into Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, fessional barriers’’ compared to non-Black four percent experiencing some form of vio- which prohibits discrimination on the basis of women. lence in their lifetime. To make matters worse, race, color, or national origin in federally-fund- The study also found that ‘‘Black women are without a dedicated federal database des- ed programs, and that violations of Section more likely to have received formal grooming ignated to collecting information on the num- 3(a) will be treated as if they were violations policies in the workplace, and to believe that ber of how many Native women go missing or of Section 601 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. there is a dissonance from her hair and other are murdered every year, we do not have the Mr. Speaker, allow me to give another ex- whole picture—this is completely unaccept- race’s hair’’ and that ‘‘Black women’s hair- styles were consistently rated lower or ‘less ample of why this legislation is necessary and able. Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act why I support it so strongly. begin to address the crisis of Missing and ready’ for job performance.’’ Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Among the study’s other findings are that 80 In July of this year, Barbers Hill Independent School District, just east of my home city of In Arizona, a state home to 22 Native Amer- percent of Black women believed that they Houston, Texas school district reaffirmed its ican tribes, we recognize and know the hor- had to change their hair from its natural state discriminatory grooming policy that led to the rors of this crisis. We know that it is a mis- to ‘‘fit in at the office,’’ that they were 83 per- suspension of two Black students earlier this conception that Native women only go missing cent more likely to be judged harshly because year. on Tribal lands. Studies have shown that the of their looks. majority of Native Americans and Alaska Na- The study indicated that Black women were The students—cousins Kaden Bradford and tive people now live in urban communities, 1.5 times more likely to I be sent home from De’Andre Arnold—wear their hair in long where they also go missing. Violence against the workplace because of their hair, and that dreadlocks. Native women spans beyond tribal lands and they were 3.4 times more likely to be per- But the school district forbids male students thus so must the solutions. ceived as unprofessional compared to non-Af- from keeping their hair at a length ‘‘below the rican-American women. I am encouraged to see these bills come to top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or Three years ago, the United States Army re- the House Floor for consideration because it below the ear lobes.’’ moved a grooming I regulation prohibiting has taken us too long to act on this issue. It women servicemembers from wearing their De’Andre Arnold had complied with the has taken us too long and lives have been hair in dreadlocks, a regulation that had a dis- dress code throughout high school by keeping taken and lost. We cannot in good conscience proportionately adverse impact on Black his hair up. continue with inaction. I support the passage women. But in 2019 the school board made the of these bills and hope they are signed into This decision was the result of a 2014 order code more stringent, requiring that students’ law as soon as possible—we owe it to the Na- by then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to hair meet the district’s length requirement tive American women who we have lost and review the military’s policies regarding hair- even if not worn let down, which meant that those who are still with us today and worry styles popular with African-American women De’Andre Arnold would have been required to they might be next. after complaints from members of Congress, cut his dreadlocks and in the process, destroy f myself included, that the policies unfairly tar- them, all in contravention of West Indian cul- CREATING A RESPECTFUL AND geted black women. tural traditions that specifically prohibit cutting OPEN WORLD FOR NATURAL In 2015, the Marine Corps followed suit and or trimming locs. HAIR ACT OF 2020 issued regulations to permit lock and twist De’Andre Arnold, a senior who had been in hairstyles. the school district since pre-kindergarten, was SPEECH OF The CROWN Study illustrates the preva- told by school officials that he would not be lence of hair discrimination but numerous sto- able to go to the senior prom or walk in his HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE ries across the country put names and faces high school graduation until he cut his OF TEXAS to the people behind those numbers. dreadlocks. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES In 2017, a Banana Republic employee was Mr. Speaker, Black students are and have told by a manager that she was violating the Monday, September 21, 2020 been disproportionately targeted and penal- company’s dress code because her box braids ized for violating facially race-neutral grooming Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as a sen- were too ‘‘urban’’ and ‘‘unkempt.’’ policies that are designed to, and have the ef- ior member of the Committees on the Judici- A year later, in 2018, Andrew Johnson, a fect of, profiling, singling out, and burdening ary and on Homeland Security, and the Con- New Jersey high school student, was forced Black children for wearing their hair in its nat- gressional Black Caucus, and as a cosponsor, by a white referee to either have his ural state. I rise in strong support of H.R. 5309, the ‘‘Cre- dreadlocks cut or forfeit a wrestling match, Students like De’Andre Arnold should not be ating a Respectful and Open World for Natural leading him to have his hair cut in public by faced with the impossible choice of either sup- Hair Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘CROWN Act of an athletic trainer immediately before the pressing their cultural heritage and Black iden- 2019,’’ introduced by Congressman RICH- match. tity by cutting their natural hair or forfeiting MOND, which explicitly prohibits discrimination That same year, an 11-year-old Black girl in their right to equal educational and extra- on the basis of hair texture or hairstyles com- Louisiana was asked to leave class at a pri- curricular opportunities. monly associated with a particular race or na- vate Roman Catholic school near New Orle- tional origin in areas of the law where discrimi- ans because her braided hair extensions vio- The CROWN Act says to students like nation on the basis of race or national origin lated the school’s policies. De’Andre Arnold and others similarly situated is already prohibited. The next year, two African-American men in that the Congress of the United States hears It has long been my position that discrimina- Texas alleged being denied employment by him, sees him, and affirms his beauty and dig- tion based on hair texture and hairstyle is a Six Flags because of their hairstyles—one had nity and pride in his culture. form of impermissible race discrimination. long braids and the other had dreadlocks. I strongly support this legislation and urge According to a 2019 report, known as the And earlier this year, there were news re- all Members to join me in voting for its pas- CROWN Study, which was conducted by the ports of a Texas student who would not be al- sage. VerDate Sep 11 2014 11:05 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0626 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A22SE8.005 E22SEPT1 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with REMARKS September 22, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E869 NATIONAL CENTERS OF EXCEL- us to do our part in stopping the spread of Madam Speaker, I find this dedication to the LENCE IN CONTINUOUS PHARMA- COVID–19. With this in mind, Michelle Harvey fight against COVID–19 nothing short of awe- CEUTICAL MANUFACTURING ACT found herself getting to work behind the family inspiring.

Load more

  2

Copy Link