Connecticut Home joins nationwide civil rights marketing campaign over Black hair kinds

MARK PAZNIOKAS :: CTMIRROR.ORG

Patricia Billie Miller MP, who says she wears African-influenced clothes for the meeting, spoke out in favor of a bill to protect black women from hair discrimination.

The stories were personal, some from childhood. Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, recalled walking into the wrong bathroom as a young girl in North Carolina in the late 1950s, only to be grabbed by the hair by a white shop manager and shoved over to her mother.

“He said, ‘Take your diapered baby out of my store,” said Walker.

Others spoke of the pressure to adapt. Rep. Patricia Billie Miller, D-Stamford, spoke about the shame of giving in and straightening her hair decades ago to get hired – only to ask her young daughter to straighten her own hair.

On Wednesday, these stories of black women were the focus of debate ahead of a 139-9 House vote to approve Connecticut’s version of the Crown Act, an acronym for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” The bill is now going to the Senate.

The laws prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles historically associated with race. California passed the first version in 2019 and was quickly followed by half a dozen states and the US House of Representatives.

The legislation is in response to a refusal by some courts to stop the discrimination, which proponents say is primarily directed against black girls and women for allowing them to wear their hair on sports fields and in the office. The courts did not agree on whether certain hairstyles associated with blacks were racially protected racial traits.

“We deserve to be accepted into our authentic selves,” said Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, the action’s main sponsor.

On a day otherwise devoted to fiscal measures, the bill was brought down on the floor of the house, at least in part on charges of racial abuse on social media recently targeted against Porter.

“Do you know how we react? Not on social media, “House spokesman Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said at a press conference with the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus ahead of the meeting. “We’ll pass bills when we get back on the Crown Act.”

House Minority Chairman Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, agreed to the quick vote, noting that a similar measure was tabled last year before the COVID-19 pandemic forced an early end to the 2020 session .

“So it has been fully checked,” said Candelora.

COVID is still a hindrance to lawmakers. Public hearings and committee meetings are being conducted via videoconferencing and most of the House members followed the debate on Wednesday and voted from their offices.

“Given that we are limiting the time we can get into the Chamber, it was an opportunity to pass laws that are acceptable. And besides, none of us lose the fact that we are in Black History Month, ”said Candelora, who voted for the bill.

All nine no votes were cast by Republicans.

One of them was Rep. Kimberly Fiorello, R-Greenwich, an Asian woman who was married to a Caucasian man. She said her multiracial son was exposed to racial nicknames by opponents in athletic competitions.

“The racist epithet hurts and hurts me when he comes home and tells me what was said to him,” said Fiorello.

But she said she doesn’t see the legislation as an antidote to racism.

“Our trip is not just about passing laws,” she said. “We can say a lot more to this bill. We can pass laws and statutes and address every single case of racism. Today it’s the hair texture. “

Fiorello said she preferred to talk.

After the vote, when Porter was celebrating the passage, Fiorello waited to speak to her. They talked briefly about finding common ground on other issues.

MARK PAZNIOKAS :: CTMIRROR.ORG

Left MP Kimberly Fiorello, who spoke against the bill, listens to a supporter, MP Brandon McGee.