Massachusetts has develop into the 18^th state to adopt a version of the CROWN Act.

On July 18 Governor Charlie Baker signed the bill into law which prohibits discrimination based on hairstyles.

In 2017, the difficulty of hair discrimination got here to light within the northern state when then-15-year-old twin Black girls, Deanna and Mya Cook were allegedly penalized at college for wearing hair extensions while their white counterparts weren’t ridiculed for violating hair protocols.

The twins—now students at University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth respectively—attended the bill signing ceremony last month and showed their gratitude to all of those that fought for the statute to be signed into law.

Mya said, “It feels amazing to know that we’ve modified so many lives.”

Deanna frolicked reminiscing and said, “It really took me back to that first time once I got my detention. I used to be fascinated by how hard this is able to be. Knowing nobody will undergo that again, it means the world, it really does.”

According to CNN, Chynah Tyler, state representative and Chairwoman of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Caucus attended the signing and told the Cook sisters, “I got here on this constructing very young and it’s very difficult being young, but you might be brave and just know that your identity matters to us.”

She added, “We are going to do whatever we are able to to make certain that we protect your identity and to make certain that your academic experience and your workforce experience is culturally sensitive to you.”

The CROWN Act which stands for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair” was created in 2019 by Dove, the Crown Coalition, and then-Senator Holly J. Mitchell (D-CA). The initiative intended “to make sure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles by extending statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles equivalent to braids, locs, twists, and knots within the workplace and public schools.”

In 2019 California became the primary state to adopt the bill and according to the StarTribune, not less than 44 other states have either signed or thought of signing a version of the CROWN Act into law.

On March 18, the US House of Representatives passed the CROWN Act, nonetheless it has yet to pass within the Senate. If the bill is passed within the Senate and is signed into law, every state will likely be governed by the federal statute.