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<br /> ORANGE COUNTY
<br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
<br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
<br /> Meeting Date: March 2, 2021
<br /> Action Agenda
<br /> Item No. 4-a
<br /> SUBJECT: Resolution Supporting the CROWN Act and Amending Chapter 12 of the
<br /> Orange County Civil Rights Ordinance
<br /> DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations
<br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
<br /> Resolution Renee Price, Chair, BOCC, (919) 245-
<br /> Ordinance Amendment 2130
<br /> Annette Moore, Human Rights and
<br /> Relations, (919) 245-2317
<br /> PURPOSE: To consider a Resolution supporting local, state, and federal laws that prohibit
<br /> discrimination based on a person's hair texture or hairstyle if that style or texture is commonly
<br /> associated with a particular race, religion, or national origin; and also approving an amendment
<br /> to the Orange County Civil Rights Ordinance prohibiting this discrimination.
<br /> BACKGROUND: The Resolution and Amendment support local, state, and federal laws that
<br /> prohibit discrimination based on a person's hair texture or hairstyle if that style or texture is
<br /> commonly associated with a particular race, religion, or national origin. Specifically, if those laws
<br /> prohibit discrimination based on hair texture or hairstyle when participating in federally, state, and
<br /> local assisted programs, housing programs, public accommodations, and employment.
<br /> While a wide range of hair textures are typical among people of African descent, the decision to
<br /> wear one's hair in a particular style is highly personal. The reason behind the decision may differ
<br /> depending on the individual. Some wearers adapt styles designed as "protective" to maintain hair
<br /> health, or as part of cultural identity, and or a variety of other personal, financial, medical, religious,
<br /> or spiritual reasons.' There has been a widespread belief that Black hairstyles are not suited for
<br /> formal settings, maybe unhygienic, messy, disruptive, or unkempt.' In 2014, the U.S. Department
<br /> of Defense generally prohibited Black hairstyles. After a backlash by Black women serving in the
<br /> Armed Forces, the ban was reversed in 2017, and the terms "matted and unkempt"were removed
<br /> from the appearance regulations. These changes reflected a reevaluation of longstanding bias
<br /> and discriminatory impact and the harms they caused on the military troops.
<br /> ' Locs may also be worn by some Black people for religious purposes, such as Rastafarians. See generally Brief for
<br /> NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund,Inc. et al., as Amici Curiae Supporting Appellants,EEOC v. Catastrophe
<br /> Mgmt. Solutions, No. 14-13482 (llth Cir. Dec. 28, 2016), https://www.naacpldf.org/files/about-
<br /> us/EEOC v CMS Final.pdf.
<br /> 2 Petition for Writ of Certiorari, supra note 17, at *6-7; see also NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. &
<br /> American Civil Liberties Union, Letter to Florida Department of Education, ACLU (Nov. 29, 2018),
<br /> https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/florida-department-education-complaint-chargerace-discrimination
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