What is the CROWN Act?
Final legislation can vary slightly from state to state, but most CROWN Act bills forbid discrimination against certain hairstyles and textures within workplaces and schools.
The bill builds off existing state laws, which generally prohibit workplace or school discrimination based on religion, gender, sexual orientation and race. But the CROWN Act expands the definition of “race” to include “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles,” like braids, locs and twists. These and other styles known as “natural” looks do not involve processing to straighten the hair.
Some bills also seek to end discrimination against adornments related to certain religious and indigenous communities.
Use the passage to answer the question.
How does the author support this central idea of the passage: The CROWN ACT is necessary to provide legal protection from discrimination against hairstyles and textures tied to racial identity?
A) By mentioning that the Vice President of the United States supports the law.
B) By detailing how few laws protect workplace discrimination of any kind.
C) By explaining why the courts have not always protected hairstyles.
D) By listing the different states that have passed a version of the CROWN Act.
C) By explaining why the courts have not always protected hairstyles.
As a young Black professional, Michigan state Rep. Sarah Anthony said she vividly recalls mentors saying that wearing straightened hair would be better for her career than wearing her natural curls.
Her curly hair would be seen as a “distraction,” or would “make the employer uncomfortable,” Anthony recalls being told by other Black women. Anthony’s experiences with anxiety and fear over the professional impact of her hairstyle are not unique. Though stories of Black people experiencing hair discrimination are not new, in recent years national media attention has brought a new level of scrutiny to the issue.
In 2015, now retired Staff Sgt. Chaunsey Logan faced a possible demotion for violating the Army’s hair policy banning locs. Logan was ultimately able to maintain her position by twisting her locs together, which apparently did not violate the grooming policy. The Army removed its ban on locs in 2017.
That same year, sisters Deanna and Mya Cook, then 15 years old, returned from spring break wearing long braids. Their Massachusetts charter school, which prohibited hair extensions, reportedly removed them from their sports teams and threatened them with expulsion until the state attorney general condemned the school policy.
Use the passage to answer the question.
Which statement from the text alludes to the central idea that the different versions of the CROWN Act are designed to provide legal protection for hairstyles tied to racial identity?
“…requirements for Black people to straighten their hair can have negative mental, economic and physiological effects.”
“…most CROWN Act bills forbid discrimination against certain hairstyles and textures within workplaces and schools.”
“People don’t even realize that white dominant culture has been normalized and has been imposed upon people whose hair texture is different.”
“…many people don’t understand how prohibiting certain hairstyles could be tied to racial discrimination.”
“…most CROWN Act bills forbid discrimination against certain hairstyles and textures within workplaces and schools.”
The correct answer is C) By explaining why the courts have not always protected hairstyles.
The passage supports the central idea that the CROWN Act is necessary to provide legal protection from discrimination against hairstyles and textures tied to racial identity by explaining that existing state laws generally prohibit workplace or school discrimination based on various factors, but do not explicitly include hair texture and protective hairstyles. This suggests that there is a need for specific legislation like the CROWN Act to address this gap in legal protection.