Today is Black Hair Independence Day. How free are we to express ourselves?

Lifestyle
It’s been five years since the CROWN Act was first passed, and now there’s legislation in more than half of the country.
This CROWN Day, also known as Black Hair Independence Day, there is quite a lot to celebrate.
Since the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act was first signed into law in California on this day five years ago, prohibiting racial discrimination based on hair texture and protective hairstyles in the workplace and public schools, more than half of the country (27 states) has adopted the policy or enacted their own version.
These states include California, New York, New Jersey (2019); Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Maryland (2020); Connecticut, Delaware, New Mexico, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Illinois (2021); Maine, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alaska, Massachusetts (2022); and Minnesota, Arkansas, Texas, Michigan (2023), and Vermont (2024). A CROWN-inspired Executive Order is in place in Arizona (2023) and Kentucky (2024). New Hampshire will bring the list to 27 after the governor signs their bill into law.
These policies have done much to not only prevent discrimination based on hairstyles and texture but also to improve the lives of more than 30 million Black Americans and counting.
“The Crown Act is an initiative that is affecting generational change and I’m beyond proud to be involved and play a small role in helping awareness,” Oscar-winning filmmaker and CROWN Coalition spokesperson Matthew Cherry told theGrio via email. “I wish this existed when I was growing up, and I’m happy it exists for my own daughter.”
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Just days ago, a Black woman was crowned Miss Texas while sporting a stylish short natural afro. Hollywood is experiencing a much-needed reckoning in its hair and makeup departments. Students and parents who experience hair discrimination have a clearer path to pursuing justice.
“Since the first CROWN Act passing, what I’ve felt most powerfully has been the amplification of the mainstream media conversation around cultural safety for Black people in workspaces and schools; and how things that give us cultural identity and expression like our natural and protective hairstyles deserve deeper understanding and protection,” Dre Brown, a makeup artist, Dove Self-Esteem Educator, and spokesperson for the CROWN Coalition, told theGrio over email.
However, Brown added, “It’s far from complete in its mission.”
The makeup artist said that what needs to be done is “continued activation” in states that have yet to enact legal protections, in addition to “promoting creative spaces that curate exploration of Black hair culture, needs, and value.”
She also can’t help but see some irony in celebrating the five-year anniversary of the day while Black children, especially girls, are still vulnerable to experiencing hair discrimination as early as the age of five.
“Since the CROWN Movement’s start, we have gotten to arm young Black children with tools to champion their natural hair and their rights to express themselves through it safely and freely in the spaces designed to help them learn and grow,” Brown continued. “I’m especially honored to celebrate CROWN Day this year because of that.”
Brown is encouraging anyone looking to celebrate the day to do so by trying to imagine a world without the contributions Black communities have made to the world of self-expression through hair.
“In considering that, choose to celebrate by honoring our individual crowns through loving self-care, popping out and showing the streets a new style, or inviting someone you love to sign the CROWN Act petition with you (if you haven’t already),” she said.
Arriving the day before the nation’s Independence Day, Black Hair Independence Day also serves as a poignant reminder of how much more work this country has in store.
“I believe everyone should have the freedom to wear their hair however they want, wherever they want,” Cherry continued. “Can’t celebrate freedom if you don’t truly feel free in your own self-expression.”
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