Texas lawmaker again tries to block discriminatory hairstyle bans in schools and workplaces
awmakers in Texas will consider prohibiting race-based hair discrimination under a proposal that was inspired by the experiences of two Black high schoolers who were told to cut their locks or face discipline.
House Bill 567, from state Rep. Rhetta Bowers, D-Garland, would prohibit schools and workplaces from discriminating based on certain hairstyles — including braids, dreadlocks and twists. The bill is scheduled to have a public hearing Wednesday before the lower chamber’s State Affairs Committee. The bill does not refer to dreadlocks specifically, but mentions locks, a term some people use to describe long hairstyles similar to what are commonly known as dreadlocks.
Such laws, often called the Crown Act, have been passed in state legislatures throughout the country since 2019 when two young men in Mont Belvieu, east of Houston, made international headlines with their situation. A companion measure has been filed in the upper chamber by state Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston.
Administrators at Barbers Hill Independent School District told De’Andre Arnold and his cousin to cut their locks or be disciplined. Both refused and sued the school district over its dress code policy in a matter that is not yet resolved. A federal judge in 2020, once Arnold had graduated, found the policy discriminatory and stopped the school district from enforcing it.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/texas-lawmaker-again-tries-block-discriminatory-hairstyle-bans-schools-and-workplaces
