March 12th 2024.
Despite the efforts of Black hair advocates and politicians to support it, the CROWN Act unfortunately did not pass in West Virginia. This bill aimed to ban hair discrimination, but was ultimately killed by Republican lawmakers. The most recent version of the bill, SB 496, specifically aimed to prohibit discrimination against certain hairstyles and textures that have historically been associated with a particular race.
According to NBC News, Republican Senator Eric Tarr sent the bill to the Senate Finance Committee in order to delay its progress. He argued that potential lawsuits related to hair discrimination would be too costly for the state, a claim that was later proven false by the Human Rights Commission. Despite this setback, the CROWN Act has been successfully introduced or enacted in the majority of states, with 20 currently having laws in place. The push for this legislation in West Virginia was also fueled by incidents of hair discrimination within the state, such as when a high school basketball player was benched due to the length of his locs in 2019, as reported by ABC4 WOAY.
Veronica Bunch, a 44-year-old advocate for the CROWN Act in West Virginia, expressed her disappointment at the bill's failure. "It was definitely a slap in the face," she said. "I was extremely disappointed because I felt that this year was the year that it would finally make its way through the legislature. The leadership we have and the state itself, it just feels like we are regressing in our opinions and views. African Americans tend to get pushed aside." Bunch is not alone in her disappointment, as the retiring Democratic senator who introduced the bill, Mike Caputo, also spoke out against its defeat.
"We hear horror stories all the time about how women of color, in particular, are treated differently because of their natural or traditional hairstyles," said Caputo. "It's a shame that we are still having these discussions in America. I am ashamed that in West Virginia, we are not even able to take this small step forward." Unfortunately, advocates will have to wait until next year for another lawmaker to sponsor the CROWN Act bill. In the meantime, hair discrimination will continue to be a pressing issue that needs to be addressed. This is evident in a recent court ruling in Texas, where a judge deemed a school's hair policy to not be in violation of the CROWN Act.
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