On March 5, Gov. Ned Lamont signed an act, Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (The CROWN Act), ensuring protection against race-based discrimination centered on a person’s hair texture and protective hairstyles. The act will be inserted into the Human Rights Section of the Connecticut General Statutes Section 46a-51. The language expands the definition of race to include “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles; and “protective hairstyles” includes, but is not limited to, hairstyles such as braids, locs and twists.” The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) will have jurisdiction over complaints.
This act acknowledges the interconnectedness between hair and race, a recognition that courts have yet to embrace. In Rogers v. American Airlines (527 F. Supp. 229 (S.D.N.Y. 1981)), referred to as the “braids” or the “cornrows” case, the court upheld what they determined was a race neutral grooming policy. This case was followed by a number of similar cases filed by Black men and women, all with similar results. In 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) v. Catastrophe Management Solutions, found that dreadlocks, though culturally associated with race, were not an immutable characteristic and therefore upheld the lower court’s determination that there was no discrimination based on race.
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