Welcome, Lawrence: Crown Act is about freedom and individuality, not just hairstyles | Opinion

The CROWN Act has a new home in nearby Lawrence. Welcome, come on in, come through. Make yourself comfortable.

Why is it called CROWN? Sure, it’s an acronym for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, but in addition to the physical description of the top of the head, the term “crown” to refer to natural hair has been around for years in African American communities.

It made sense for advocates to grab that term in proposed legislation to outlaw discrimination against hairstyles that are natural or textured. This week, Lawrence becomes the next city in our region to adopt the law, with a final vote set for Aug. 22. My colleague, news reporter Andrea Klick, shared the news and quoted Black female leaders from Kansas and Missouri about the decision. In 23 states and a smattering of cities, this is law. KCMO and St. Louis already have adopted it.

“Be proud. Wear your crown, queen!” and other affirmations exist to give people the courage to wear their hair in natural, unprocessed styles. Courage? Does that go too far? No indeed.

We’ve seen metro residents discriminated against in school and the workplace for wearing such hairstyles. I’m talking about unprocessed, not chemically straightened hair: braids, dreadlocks, bantu knots, sister locs and other textured hair styles on all, but mostly nonwhite people.

An Ottawa teen was kicked off the cheer squad for wearing long braids. Another teen in south Kansas City was refused a job because of his dreadlocks.

My goodness! No one complains about Patrick Mahomes’ natural curls, do they?

I’ve written about this issue before in other spaces. Travelers have blasted airport security workers for singling out their natural styles during airport searches. Broadcasters have talked about the challenges of wearing their natural hair on TV. Two sports personalities — Sage Steele and MJ Acosta-Ruiz — have famously worn their curls in their natural state, but other newscasters have only recently found the freedom to do so on the air.

Fourteen writers (13 women and 1 man) contributed to a book I published called “Hair Goddess,” writing passionately about why they make the hairstyle choices they do. I learned sometimes this discrimination even cuts across the color line.

One chapter is devoted to a Black man whose story is eerily similar to the south KC teen. Mashaun Simon was a reporter interning at Black Enterprise, a Black-owned business magazine. When he arrived, his Black boss told him the only way to keep this job would be to cut his dreadlocks.

You might think you know the end to this story, but nope. Mashaun agreed to cut his hair. He had to respond to criticism about “selling out,” but the question here isn’t why he made the decision. It’s why he was put in the position in the first place.

The CROWN Act is not about people wearing big Afros or long dreadlocks. It’s about freedom to be yourself, whether you decide to wear your hair short or long, curly or straight, traditional or progressive. Mashaun, now a pastor, wrote that this is the very point.

“Expression, cultural commodification and identity are at the root of such issues regarding hair. but looking back on that moment, the experience of growing out my hair again, re-loc’ing and cutting them again in my final year of seminary, it all comes down for me to individual freedom.”

Since my arrival at The Star, you’ve only seen me in a straight hairstyle, but I sometimes wear my hair curly and non-straightened. I wear it however I want because that represents me and how I see myself at any particular moment.

Ethicists refer to it as a “sense of self.”

When will we stop trying to control parts of people that don’t belong to us?