The York City Councilwoman Edquina Washington proposed the CROWN Act as part of city ordinances at Tuesday's meeting.
The act is intended to prevent discrimination based on race-based hairstyling, amending Article 185 of the city's codified ordinances, known as the "City of York Human Relations Ordinance," which prohibits discrimination in a variety of ways including race, religion, age, sex, orientation and disability.
Protections in the proposed act cover "Protective and Cultural Hair Textures and Hairstyles," which include braids, cornrows, locs, Bantu knots, Afros, ornaments, beads, extensions, treatments and headwraps. CROWN stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair."
The CROWN Act is making its way to the Senate after being passed by the House in March, but other states, cities and municipalities have been passing their own local version of the act in an effort to address the problems it raises locally. Among the states are California, New York and New Jersey. The Pennsylvania-passed municipalities are Allegheny County and Pittsburgh.
More on York's CROWN Act:Here's why a York City Council member wants to protect hairstyles from discrimination
According to Washington, resident pastor Theresa Hawkins brought the subject to her, and she teamed up with the York City Human Relations Commission to present the amendment to the board.
During a press conference before the board meeting, Washington and Chair of the Human Rights Commission Stephanie...
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