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<br /> WHEREAS, Orange County is a community that prides itself on being composed of people who
<br /> value diversity of backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, traditions and experiences; and
<br /> WHEREAS, appreciation for diversity in all forms strengthens a community, fosters a
<br /> welcoming environment, and is critical to a thriving, successful city; and
<br /> WHEREAS, discrimination based upon natural hair texture and styles remains a source of racial
<br /> bias, impacting educational and employment opportunities for people of color, particularly
<br /> women and men of Black African descent; and
<br /> WHEREAS, Orange County has developed a locally applicable non-discrimination ordinance
<br /> that will prohibit discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and fair housing access
<br /> against individuals who wear "protected hairstyles," which is defined in the pending ordinance
<br /> as "any hairstyle, hair type, or hair texture historically associated with race such as, but not
<br /> limited to, braids, locks, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, Bantu knots, and afros"; and
<br /> WHEREAS, current state and federal law prohibit discrimination on the basis of race and
<br /> ethnicity in employment, public accommodations, housing and schools, yet offers no protection
<br /> to individuals with specific hair styles or textures related to race or ethnicity; and
<br /> WHEREAS, a national movement to address the effects of long-term, insidious race
<br /> discrimination in reaction to hairstyles and textures commonly associated with communities of
<br /> color is being spearheaded by the CROWN Coalition, a national alliance founded by Dove, the
<br /> National Urban League, Color of Change, and the Western Center on Law& Poverty; and
<br /> WHEREAS, with the assistance of the Coalition, a wave of legislation has been enacted across
<br /> the United States over the past eighteen months, both at the federal and state level, which
<br /> specifically adds race-based hair discrimination to the legal definition of race discrimination; and
<br /> WHEREAS, beginning in California in July 2019, The CROWN Act ("Creating a Respectful and
<br /> Open Workplace for Natural Hair") now has been adopted in seven states and legislation is
<br /> under consideration in more than twenty other states, as well as in Congress; and
<br /> WHEREAS, at the federal level, the "CROWN Act of 2019" has been introduced by
<br /> Representative Cedric Richmond (LA-2) in the form of H.R. 5309 in December 2019 and by
<br /> Senator Cory Booker (NJ) in the form of S. 3167 in January 2020, and would amend a panoply
<br /> of existing federal civil rights law prohibiting race discrimination in federally assisted programs,
<br /> housing programs, public accommodations, employment, and access to equal rights under the
<br /> law; and
<br /> WHEREAS, the stated purpose of the identical bills is "to institute definitions of race and
<br /> national origin for Federal civil rights laws that effectuate the comprehensive scope of
<br /> protection Congress intended to be afforded by such laws and Congress' objective to eliminate
<br /> race and national origin discrimination in the United States"; and
<br /> WHEREAS, the pending federal bills include an initial section of Congressional "findings"
<br /> providing an eloquent and compelling argument for the necessity of the proposed Act, as
<br /> follows:
<br /> (1) Throughout United States history, society has used, in conjunction with skin color, hair
<br /> texture and hairstyle to classify individuals on the basis of race.
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