The Fight To Make Hair Discrimination Illegal

For Harper's BAZAAR

BEAUTY IRL is a newsletter publication run by @darian that covers beauty at the intersection of politics and pop culture. If you’re passionate about this world (and value journalism!), consider a yearly or monthly subscription 🧠⚡️💄

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Photo by Pétala Lopes to the Washington Post/Getty Images

For Harper’s BAZAAR, I approach The CROWN Act by taking a look at where it hasn't passed, and why. The CROWN Act is a law that seeks to ban hair discrimination Black people may face due to the natural texture of their hair, or while wearing protective styles like locs, braids, twists, and bantu knots. 

In Nebraska and West Virginia, the bill failed in its final stages, raising questions about why some politicians are hesitant to vote for a bill designed to protect Black people from a history of well-documented race-based hair discrimination. The CROWN Act has received bipartisan support in states it has and has not passed. Most recently, it passed in the House of Representatives.

I made the graphic below as a way to visualize the act’s journey through Nebraska’s Legislature, where it passed and was then vetoed by the governor.

In addition to speaking with politicians in both states, I interviewed California State Senator Holly Mitchell, who was the first to get The CROWN Act passed on a state level. I like the point she makes here:

“Policymakers are people too, and implicit and explicit bias doesn't discriminate based on what you do for a living. As a Black policymaker, I experience that as we’re debating in committee on the floor, not only The CROWN Act but any number of bills that are attempting to provide redress or call out white supremacist ideology that impacts the lives of Black people every day.”

I want to know if you've ever faced hair discrimination, at work, at school, while playing a sport. You can comment here on Instagram or drop a comment! This Harper’s BAZAAR story was edited by Jenna Rosenstein.

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ABOUT DARIAN: This newsletter is written by Darian Symoné Harvin. Darian is a multimedia beauty reporter and social media editor using her journalism and curatorial skills to craft narratives and distinct takes on beauty, pop culture, and the intersection of both. So far, her career has been dedicated to working on thoughtful and virals ways to present news and content to people on the internet and IRL, for platforms like BuzzFeed News, Yahoo News, NBC News, and Vox.com. Darian wants to use her love and curiosity for beauty to tell stories. She currently writes for the New York Times, Refinery29, teenVogue, and The Cut. You can find more of her work here.