By Heather Allen
According to Michigan State Senator Sarah Anthony, hair discrimination is an issue that needs to be addressed. Anthony sponsored Senate legislation aimed at banning hair discrimination in the workplace, calling it the Crown Act.
enator Anthony said after she proposed the bill, she was given pushback and had no co-sponsors and not much interest from others in her bill. She described being pushed to put forth more important legislation, “things that really mattered, things of substance like tax policy.” She said she was discouraged and wondered if this was an issue that needed to be focused on or not.
In late May, Anthony tweeted that she was “proud to announce” that the Senate had passed the Crown Act. She went on to describe how African Americans, especially professional black women, suffer from being retaliated against and reprimanded because of their hairstyles in the workplace. As a Senator, she said she was able to escape this, “This is unique to being a lawmaker,” she continued,
“Unfortunately, this is not the case for many Michiganders, particularly African American Michiganders, as well as individuals around the country. In 2019 I first introduced the Crown Act here in the State of Michigan. Crown stands for ‘Creating a respectful and open world for natural hair,’ and this is intended to prohibit race-based discrimination.”
Proud to announce that today, the Michigan Senate passed the #CROWNAct
It’s far past time that we protect Michiganders across our state from hair discrimination and ensure that the CROWN Act becomes law.@misendems @mi_lbc pic.twitter.com/fNXNzHLyK2