In response to the Latest York Times, the brand new guidelines released by the Latest York Commission on Human Rights deems the targeting of individuals based on their hair or hairstyle racial discrimination.

Although all races are protected, the language utilized in the law suggests the aim is to thwart prejudice against Black people, distinctly declaring the correct of Latest Yorkers to wear their  “natural hair, treated or untreated hairstyles equivalent to locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, Afros, and/or the correct to maintain hair in an uncut or untrimmed state.”

Violators of the law will face penalties as much as $250,000 with no cap on damages. The commission can even implement internal policy changes and rehirings to corporations who’re found guilty of harassing, threatening, punishing, firing or demoting employees based on their hair.

The move is profound in that it acknowledges that there’s in actual fact a relationship between cultural identity and hair.

“There’s nothing keeping us from calling out these policies prohibiting natural hair or hairstyles most closely related to black people,” commissioner and chairwoman of the Latest York City Commission on Human Rights, Carmelyn P. Malalis, told the Latest York Times.

“They’re based on racist standards of appearance,” Ms. Malalis continued, adding that they perpetuate “racist stereotypes that say black hairstyles are unprofessional or improper.”

As Black women we’re all too aware of incidents of Black hair being policed within the workplace, school and beyond.

It’s a phenomenon that has consistently plagued Black people on this country and that we’ve discussed ad nauseum.

From high-profile cases just like the Pretoria All-Girl High School incident wherein young South African women fought against a college policy that forced them to straighten their hair, to an LA Fitness worker being told and afro “doesn’t fit the standards as recently as September of 2018, it’s clear the difficulty is one which needed to be addressed.

The brand new guidelines are set to be released this week, and are regarded as the primary of their kind within the country.

We hope that is the start of a latest way forward.