A new Texas law banning hair discrimination based on race has inspired one woman to give back to black and minority communities across the country.
Martinez, host:
In Texas, a new law called the Crown Act prohibits hair discrimination based on race, but it doesn’t just apply to hair. This is KUT’s Kylie Hunt.
CAYLEY HUNT, BYLINE: The CROWN Act’s CROWN…
Kelly Richardson Lawson: Respecting natural hair and creating an open world.
Hunt: I’m Kelly Richardson Lawson, one of the co-founders of the national CROWN Coalition. It was established in 2019 with the aim of eliminating race-based hair discrimination in education and the workplace.
Lawson: Everyone in this country should have the freedom to wear their hair however they want.
Hunt: Every year, the coalition sponsors legislation that would prohibit employers and schools from penalizing people for their hair texture or style, including braids, locs, Afros and other styles. Here in Texas, the law is facing an early test. Recently, a black high school student was disciplined for wearing his hair in dreadlocks. Darryl George was suspended from Barbers Hill High School near Houston on August 31, the day before the Texas Crown Act went into effect.
Retta Bowers: We knew that just because the law was passed, these cases weren’t going to go away.
HUNT: That’s state Rep. Retta Bowers, who authored Texas’ CROWN Act. She says it was enacted to prevent situations like this.
BOWERS: Darryl George’s suspension is a direct violation of the Texas Crown Act. The bill itself protects his hairstyle.
HUNT: George’s family is currently filing a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency and a federal civil rights lawsuit against the governor and attorney general for failing to enforce the new law. School officials argue that George’s dreadlocks violate the school district’s dress code because his hair falls below his eyebrows and earlobes. Texas is one of her 24 states to have passed the CROWN Act. This inspired April Phillips, an Austin-area social worker, to start her own nonprofit called Frofessionals. Its slogan is “Bringing glory to our community.”
April Phillips: Now that hair is free, I thought it was time to unify.
Hunt: Her website aims to create a national directory of Black and minority-owned hair care businesses based on ZIP code. Businesses can pay to advertise on the site. Phillips says the goal is simple.
Phillips: Take back our industry and reabsorb these funds into the pockets of businesses owned and operated by Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and then reinvest them in the communities they serve.
Hunt: She plans to reinvest the funds generated by the website directory into community partners that provide legal support, entrepreneurship training, and mental health services to Black and minority communities. The nonprofit has already attracted the attention of business owners like Jesse Webb. Austin Jurist specializes in styling, locks, braids, cornrows, and other ethnic hair styles.
JESE WEBB: That’s one of the main calls we get all the time. Do you specialize in natural hair? Do you take care of your natural hair?
HUNT: Webb says the nonprofit’s website is important for natural hair care businesses like his.
WEBB: This platform gives us a voice, it gives us a vision, it gives us a place to be seen and heard. Because we only work with natural hair, it is often tied up, pushed back, or looked at.
Hunt: Supporters of the CROWN movement say they will continue to work until race-based hair discrimination is banned at the federal level and in all 50 states.
For NPR News, I’m Kylie Hunt in Austin.
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