Black people in Texas report discrimination over their hair. Would this law help?

Generations of men in Dakiri Davis’ family wore their hair long and in braids. Once his son was born, Davis, a DART police officer and DeSoto resident, decided to grow his hair long and style it in braids to match how his son would wear his.

After reading the department’s policies stating officers’ hair should be neat, well groomed and off the uniform collar, Davis decided the style would work.

“I perceive cornrows or any other braided hairstyles as neat and well groomed,” Davis said.

But Davis was put on paid administrative leave for violating the department’s dress and appearance policy, and his supervisors alleged insubordination for not following direct orders, according to documents obtained by the Star-Telegram.

“It definitely was very stressful thinking that I was going to lose my career,” Davis said. “I had to make a lot of tough decisions for my family in preparation of being terminated.”

Davis spent a year on paid administrative leave, unsure of where the investigation would leave him. To save money, he sold land where his family planned to build a house in case he wouldn’t be able to find another job because of the insubordination allegations.

The chief operating officer of DART eventually ordered the police department to rescind the allegations and place Davis back on duty, saying that the police chief “is in the process of establishing a committee for development of a fair and equitable Dress and Appearance policy,” according to the documents obtained by the Star-Telegram.

The passage of the CROWN Act in Texas could prevent similar conflicts over hairstyles across the state. CROWN stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, and the act represents Black and other Americans with coarse, curly or coily hair and the styles typically associated to maintain that hair. An attempt to pass the act in Texas failed last year, but some legislators are hopeful that could change this year. Austin leaders have hoped to implement a city version of the act.

The federal version of the CROWN Act passed in the U.S. House in March and needs to pass in the Senate to become law. It protects against hair discrimination in employment, housing and for those participating in federal programs.

Davis said he hopes his department will establish hair policies with wording similar to the CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination based on protective or natural styles such as braids, twists or locks that Black people often wear to tuck away delicate ends and prevent breakage. He acknowledges safety has to be a serious consideration for officers, but said policies don’t have to be discriminatory or exclusionary. According to a DART spokesperson, the current policy delineates hairstyles should be “neat in appearance and will not interfere with the wear of the uniform hat.”

“Until we get administrators in those positions, who share those values and value their employees and their upbringing, their backgrounds, I think we’re going to continue to have recruitment challenges of African American police officers,” Davis said.

Many Black North Texas residents, students, parents and business owners, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that they felt their natural texture hair wasn’t accepted in school or workplaces and that statewide implementation of the CROWN Act is necessary. Many said they experienced retribution at school, unnecessary and uncomfortable comments in the workplace or personal insecurities rooted in how society deems their natural hair. The Star-Telegram has previously written about two people who said they were denied jobs at Six Flags due to their dreadlocks.

The Black Hair Experience

Alisha Brooks and Elizabeth Davis founded a pop-up exhibit called The Black Hair Experience making its way through Texas this year. It’s designed to celebrate Black hair and the nostalgic experiences related to it. It features a swing where ropes are made of braided hair, a pit full of hair curlers and retail spaces for Black owned businesses.

“Our goal with the exhibit is to continue the message that all Black hair is beautiful, really giving African American women and men a place to be able to come and see themselves and celebrate the journey of their hair,” said Davis.

Davis, who is from Cleveland, and Brooks, who is from Kansas City, support efforts to pass the CROWN Act. Both worked in the corporate world prior to founding the pop-up and said they would frequently get comments about their changing hairstyles.

“I have not met a Black woman who has not had some sort of microaggression when it comes to her hair in the workplace,” Davis said. “This is a real fabric part of our being in these spaces.”

“I hope my daughter by the time she enters into corporate America, she never has to have conversations about her hair, or the way that me and Alisha felt when we started [in] corporate America,” Davis said. “Like are we not going to get this job at this major company as interns because my hair is natural, or am I going to be seen as unkempt?”

Relaxing hair standards

At T’Amm Healthy Hair Salon in Fort Worth, founder Tonti Denmond said her clients are often hesitant about wearing their natural hair.

“The feeling of my hair being my crown, being my glory, being something beautiful was something that we didn’t receive,” Denmond said. “You just kind of grew up [knowing that] at a certain age you’re gonna get a relaxer done.”

Many women spend years chemically straightening their hair to conform to western hair standards with a process called “relaxing,” Denmond said.

When Denmond went to school to become a hairdresser in the ‘90s, she said, there was no education on how to take care of natural coarse hair. Another stylist at T’Amm, Jazmine Gibson, who went to school in 2015, had texture classes that only taught how to do a perm and how to do a relaxer. Most of what Gibson and Denmond learned about properly moisturizing and styling hair in protective braids was self-taught and practiced over the years they’ve been working.

Denmond said many of her clients don’t know how to properly take care of their natural hair because that knowledge is not well disseminated, and society expects hair to be a certain texture.

“A system [is] saying, ‘This is how your hair should be,’” Denmond said.

Denmond hopes to support Black women in the sometimes difficult process of going natural. To reverse a relaxer, women cut all chemically treated hair, allowing for natural curly hair to grow. Some call this “The Big Chop.”

“We are here to help and teach our clients how to be more confident when it comes to their hair and also how to maintain it in its natural state,” Denmond said.

At T’Amm, there are no chemical services offered.

TCU student Breann Borlay called her embrace of natural hair a spiritual journey. As a child she looked forward to days when her mom would flat iron her hair, and she was “just completely unconvinced that my hair was beautiful,” she said.

As she got older, she made a pact to not change her hair texture until she learned to love it, she said.

Now president of TCU’s natural hair organization, NaturallyMi, Borlay has found a sense of community talking about natural hair. She’s heard from other curly-hair-textured students who’ve had a hard time accepting the natural texture of their hair, and from students who’ve been the brunt of ignorance from other TCU students regarding Black hair.

She recalled one student who got a compliment from another student about her afro. The student proceeded to grab her hair with both of his hands without permission.

“So many young Black women go through this kind of dislike of their hair,” Borlay said. “Nobody should feel that way about something that’s naturally growing out of their head. Nothing’s wrong with your hair.”

Borlay said she hopes a version of the CROWN Act passes in Texas.

“I feel people don’t see the impact that being told that, ‘Your hair is unprofessional, your hair is ugly,’ ” she said. “It inhibits you from meeting your full potential. It inhibits you academically. It inhibits you personally, and it really does have the potential to really hurt a whole population of people.”

“More than just a hair thing”

Hope Cozart’s 12-year-old son Maddox wanted to twist his coarse hair into dreadlocks like his dad. But Cozart suggested he start with an easier to manage hairstyle until he got older. They shaved his hair around the bottom and back of his head but kept the hair on the crown long. It usually was tied back into a braid or two and in a small bun at the end, Cozart said.

It was swept out of his face, so she figured it wouldn’t be distracting, she said.

But she soon got a call from Troy school administrators south of Waco saying that her son’s hair style violated the school’s dress code. Boys weren’t allowed to wear their hair in buns.

Cozart said she felt it was an unfair attack for something trivial. Her son was pulled out of class, and his hairstyle was evaluated twice by several administrators. She said students who used racial slurs weren’t given nearly as much punishment.

“There is no staff that looks like my children or that can relate to my children and their hair. So trying to explain to them and educate them was a task,” Cozart said.

The school district wouldn’t comment on a specific disciplinary matter.

Cozart and Maddox agreed to try to change the school’s rules. They took the case to TikTok, gaining national support, and hired a lawyer. But they were met with criticism. People said Cozart was turning a simple policy into a racial issue. One TikTok comment said, “You’re making a big deal out of it! That’s why it’s a big deal! It’s an enforceable dress code in the handbook you signed!”

“It’s more than just a hair thing here,” Cozart said.

She did research of similar cases and found many similarities of hair policies in schools that she said discriminated against young Black children in majority white districts.

“When you tell a kid that you shouldn’t wear your hair that way because it’s not professional, they’re gonna grow up thinking that that’s not OK to wear their hair a certain way when it should be,” Cozart said. “They should embrace it. That’s part of them.”

Cozart and her son have advocated for the CROWN Act, and eventually were able to change the rules allowing for protective styles, buns, ponytails, braids and long hair for boys at Troy ISD.

The CROWN Act in Texas

Rep. Rhetta Bowers of Dallas County, who introduced the CROWN Act in Texas, went through her own natural hair experience when trying to pass the bill.

During the pandemic she started wearing her hair natural, since she didn’t have as much access to stylists.

“Some of my Black colleagues ... they told me I didn’t have to be natural to carry this bill, but I certainly felt that I had to,” Bowers said.

Her and her colleagues’ efforts to introduce the bill centered around educating white colleagues on Black and coarse hair.

Although Bowers said the bill had bipartisan support, it ultimately was introduced too late to pass last year. She said she hopes to reintroduce it as soon as early filing starts in November.

Bowers said she has “high hopes” that it will pass next legislative session.

“It will make sure that we are not kept from thriving whether that’s in our schools, in classrooms or in the workplace,” Bowers said. “When we walk in a room or we’re in a classroom, we want to be taken seriously and accepted fully for who we are and as we are.”