TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa community is uniting to help push the CROWN Act forward that fights to end hair discrimination.
The CROWN Act stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural hair.”
Tampa native and Harvard University student Harlie Williams says her group, Black Girls Govern, wanted to host a community celebration for filing of House Bill 235.
The bill, sponsored by Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, prohibits discrimination based on hairstyle and discrimination against students and employees in Florida’s K-12 public education system.
“A lot of people actually experience hair discrimination in the school system, but they’re afraid to talk about it,” she said. “So Black Girls Govern is giving them the platform to say, ‘Hey, I’ve experienced hair discrimination and now we can actually talk about it.’”
“This is a bill, as you can see, is close to my heart, as I tend to wear my hair in a natural style, and we just want to make sure our kids in school would be free from discrimination, no matter how they wear their hair, so they can stay focused on learning, Driskell said.
Similar legislation has passed in 25 states, including Texas and Tennessee. The event is Nov. 23 from 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center located at 2200 N. Oregon Avenue in Tampa.