It's been a month since two staff members at a Mt Pleasant school came under fire for cutting the hair of a biracial student. But the incident was discussed again last night at a virtual panel promoting the CROWN act.
The “Crown Me” panel included state lawmakers and community supporters of the CROWN proposal which would prohibit discrimination based on hair style.
Michigan State Representative Stephanie Young was one of many African American women who discussed the act and their own experiences with hair-based discrimination.
Young said the panel wanted to provide hope to people who experience discrimination.
“It’s to provide hope that there will be a day where we won’t have to be stigmatized because of our hair… regardless of how it’s styled. We’ll be able to be free just like so many other people in the great United States of America.”
Young says those wishing to support the act, which is currently in the House Judiciary Committee, should reach out to their local lawmakers.
Another panelist, Shawna Patterson-Stephens, serves as Central Michigan University’s vice president and chief diversity officer.
According to Stephens, the word “professionalism” itself can have racist undertones.
“When you’re asking someone to be professional, or use a professional hairstyle, what you are asking them to do is colonize themselves to be involved in that work setting,” Stephens said. “I think it’s really important for supervisors and executive managers to understand what they’re asking of folks.”
A recording of the full panel is availableon the sorority’s Facebook page.