Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz

Gov. Charlie Baker has signed into law a bill that makes discrimination in schools and workplaces based on hairstyle or natural texture illegal in Massachusetts.

State Sen. Adam Gomez, of Springfield, one of the bill’s sponsors, said, legislation is “just the first step.”

“In order to change hearts and minds, you have to ensure that people know that this exists, that it is deeply wrong, and that it is something that many women of color have lived experience with. That is what makes this bill so important,” Gomez said.

Massachusetts is the 18^th state to pass the CROWN ACT, as the bill is called.

Gomez praised the “action, perseverance, and tenacity” of twin sisters Deanna and Mya Cook, of Malden, who were central to the CROWN Act being passed in Massachusetts.

Officials at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School told the fifteen-year old Black girls that they had to remove their braided extensions. When the girls refused, they received detention and were no longer allowed to participate in school sports or attend the prom.

The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a letter that the school “inconsistently applied” policy regarding hair and make-up. It also said their policy was used “unequally to punish students of color more frequently or more harshly than other students.”

Rep. Steven Ultrino, of Malden, introduced the bill. There was no response from his office about the new law.

But, according to Ultrino’s webpage about key legislation, one of the changes would “require charter schools to address natural hairstyles in their equal opportunity statements.”

“On average, 63.5% of people display moderate to strong implicit bias against textured natural hair,” Ultrino’s webpage said.

The CROWN Act is the acronym for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, a campaign led by the coalition of Color of Change, Western Center on Law & Poverty, National Urban League, and Dove to end discriminatory practices regarding natural hair and protective hairstyles.

Research sponsored by Dove showed that by age ten, 100 percent of Black girls face discrimination based on their hair in elementary schools that are majority-white.

In Massachusetts, 14 percent of the state child population is Black, according to the Annie E. Foundation KIDS COUNT data center.

The new law goes into effect on Oct. 24. Attempts to get information from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education about the revision of school policy to reflect the law were unsuccessful.

In the workplace, the DOVE research found that Black women are “1.5 times more likely to be sent home because of their hair.” Black women are also 30 percent more likely to be alerted to a workplace policy related to appearance policy.

Vanessa Loud, of Roxbury, is aware of the discrimination Black women face with employers. She said at job interviews years ago she would wear her hair in a way that her employers might find acceptable. Once hired, she said she would “switch it up on them” and move to a natural style. “What could they do? They’ve already hired me,” she said.

Loud, employed at a Boston home improvement store, wears her hair in locs that fall past her shoulders these days.

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination did not respond to a request for information about the new law.

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley praised the passage of the CROWN Act in her state legislature in March. Following, she encouraged Congress to adopt the CROWN Act at the federal level. Pressley, along with Reps. Gwen Moore, Ilhan Omar, Barbara Lee, and Bonnie Watson Coleman sponsored the bill.

In her speech to the U.S. House, Pressley said “that Black girls, with our braids, locs, afros, all forms of natural hairstyles and yes, even our smooth Alopecian bald heads, belong everywhere.”

The House passed the CROWN Act, although the Senate has yet to do so. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill into law should it reach his desk.

In Massachusetts, State Sen. Sal DiDomenico and State Rep. Chynah Tyler sponsored the bill along with Gomez and Ultrino.