November 11th 2023.
Chian Weekes-Rivera, a veteran police officer of the Maplewood Township Police Department in New Jersey, is taking legal action against her town and boss for hair discrimination. The 38-year-old Black female cop claims she was discriminated against after being disciplined for wearing her hair in a traditional African hairstyle.
Weekes-Rivera's lawsuit, filed in early November in Essex County, is accusing the department and her supervisor, Peter Kuenzel of a Maplewood police captain, of violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD). The State of New Jersey Civil Service Commission states the law prohibits unlawful employment discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex, familial status, and more.
The incident took place on August 20th, 2023, when Weekes-Rivera came to work wearing Bantu knots - a popular natural and protective hairstyle. Days later, Internal Affairs filed a complaint against her for violating the department’s on-duty dress code. Kuenzel called the Bantu knots “rollers” and informed Weekes-Rivera that was the reason she was deemed in violation.
The officer is accusing the police department of being “aided and abetted” by Kuenzel, as well as subjecting her to “discipline as a result of her race and ethnicity”. She expressed feeling embarrassed and “less than” when receiving the violation, and worries about her job security and advancement opportunities.
Her attorney, John Coyle, believes Maplewood is setting a dangerous precedent with the act of discipline. “Maplewood is trying to send a chilling message to the entire department that not only are we going to discriminate against Chian, we are going to hold other people accountable for not discriminating against her,” he said.
The case has drawn attention to the CROWN Act, a New Jersey law signed by Governor Phil Murphy in 2019 that prohibits race discrimination on the basis of “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles.” The law was created after Andrew Johnson, a Black high school wrestler, was forced to cut his dreadlocks off to be eligible to compete in a match in 2018.
The fight for hair equality and racial justice is a long-standing struggle, and Weekes-Rivera hopes her case will make a difference. She was featured in a “Sheroes of the Maplewood Police Department” video in 2021 that celebrated the diversity of its police officers – a testament to her strength and resilience. National Crown Day has since become a two week celebration to honor the historical movement.
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