WASHINGTON (AP) — Black people who wear hairstyles such as afros, braids or with very defined curls should not be prejudiced in society, school, and the workplace, the U.S. House of Representatives said Friday in a vote explaining that such discrimination is a violation of federal civil rights.
“There are people in this society who think that because your hair is curly, is braided, knotted or not straightened blonde or light brown, that you are somehow not worthy of access,” said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, principal sponsor of the bill, during the debate in the lower house. “That's discrimination.”
The House of Representatives voted 235 in favor and 189 against to ban discrimination based on hair texture and hairstyles. The bill now passes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. President Joe Biden has already said that he will enact the initiative to make it into law.
All but 14 Republicans voted against the measure, calling it unnecessary and distracting. They said that protections against hair discrimination already exist in several federal laws.
“This is what Democrats are all about,” said Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. “Fourteen months of chaos and we're doing a hair bill.”
But Democratic representatives pointed out that, in several cases, judges have dismissed civil rights cases on the grounds that the law does not directly cover hair discrimination. The House Bill makes it clear that hair is included.