Orange County NC Website
1 <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 <br />