Provided by Rosemarie Allen
Coloradan Rosemarie Allen felt workplace pressure to straighten her hair. Provided photoWhen Rosemarie Allen switched jobs in 2012, she decided to stop pressing her hair — something she did so it looked “less ethnic” — and wear it natural and curly.
She had stopped chemically relaxing it years prior, after learning many chemicals in relaxers, often used by black people, are tied to cancer. Still, she kept straightening it.
But after starting work for the Colorado Department of Youth Corrections, she decided to join the movement encouraging minorities to wear their hair naturally. It was not met with support.
“My supervisor, on multiple occasions, told me she could refer me to someone who can straighten my hair,” Allen said. “In that position, it was just amazing. I had to decide am I just going to challenge this or go with the flow?”
Ultimately, Allen decided it wasn’t worth the trouble.
Her story is not unfamiliar to Colorado lawmakers who have introduced a bill to protect people from discrimination based on hair traits historically associated with race. It would apply to public education, employment, housing, public accommodations and advertising.
“In Colorado, I was appalled to hear about a young child who was bullied and harassed and her braids were ripped out because she was wearing her hair in braids,” said sponsor Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver. “It offended me and made me think about how many times I was made to feel less than because of whatever hairstyle I was wearing at the time.”
It’s not just about discrimination, though, for Herod. It’s also about the fear of being discriminated against.
“It’s time we make a clear statement in Colorado that discrimination in that form is not OK and be very explicit in the fact that people who choose to wear their hairstyle in way that reflects their culture, their heritage, that that should be embraced and not discriminated against,” Herod said.
The bill is similar to those passed in other states preventing discrimination against natural hair, with California being the first state to pass the Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act. The CROWN Coalition was co-founded by Dove and other organizations to end this type of discrimination.
Allen has written two children’s books about black hair — which bill sponsor Rep. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora, has bought for her grandchildren — and she teaches courses at Metro State University on equity and privilege and power in early childhood education. She has researched the issue of children getting punished because of their natural hair.
Buckner is sponsoring the bill with Herod and Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora.
“Everyone that I talked to either knows of someone or have a family member or friend who has had issues with hair discrimination,” Buckner said.
It also serves as a conversation starter, she said, so people understand why they shouldn’t touch other people’s hair or question whether their hair is dirty because they don’t wash it every day, for example.
Buckner stresses that the bill isn’t only about black people — and not only about women — but people of all ethnicities who have hair traits associated with their races.
There’s no organized opposition to the bill, but a post on Herod’s Facebook page displays arguments people have made about hair looking “professional” or an employer’s right to decide what they want and don’t want in a workplace.
But Buckner believes business groups will back the bill as they learn how to better support their employees. The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce announced its support Wednesday.
“It’s exciting and it makes me feel safer to be who I am without being discriminated against,” Allen said.
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January 17, 2020 at 01:36AM
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“It makes me feel safer to be who I am”: Colorado House bill aims to ban discrimination against natural hair - The Denver Post
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