McClinton, Advocates Demand End to Hair Discrimination in Pa.

HARRISBURG, June 15 -- State House Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton joined lawmakers and advocates in demanding an end to hair discrimination in the commonwealth. McClinton’s CROWN Act (HB1066) has been held up in the House State Government Committee for over a year.

“It is unconscionable that in 2022 our neighbors can still be denied educational, professional, and employment opportunities based on their natural hair texture or hairstyle,” McClinton, D-Phila/Delaware said. “More and more states and cities have acted to end this often-overlooked form of discrimination, and it is time for Pennsylvania to join them in outlawing this relic of legal racism.”

More than a dozen states, including Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, as well as cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, have already enacted the CROWN Act protections.

McClinton was joined at the press conference by Senator Vincent Hughes, D-Phila. and Reps. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin; Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Phila.; Donna Bullock, D-Phila., as well as advocates Alicia Allen, Harrisburg NAACP; Darcel Kimble, Harrisburg Chapter, PA Links; Amber Harris, National Coalition of 100 Black Women - Pennsylvania Chapter; Trena Brown and Dr. Ebonnie Vazquez, National Coalition of 100 Black Women- Harrisburg; Robert Bruce Hill, Jr., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.; Charlene Neal Collins, president, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; Macawi Thomas, student, Cheney University; Maria James-Thiaw, Natural Hair Writer and Poet; Marvetta Coleman, Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.; and Kathy Charles, Alpha Kappa Alpha, The York Pearls.