Senate Committee to Consider CROWN Act Legislation this Week

Proposed legislation that seeks to prohibit institutional discrimination on the basis of hair texture and style, known as the Virgin Islands CROWN Act (Bill No. 0147), will take another step towards becoming law.

The 34th Legislature’s Committee on Rules and Judiciary will deliberate on the anti-discrimination measure this Thursday, Feb 10. Sponsored by Senator Alma Francis Heyliger, the CROWN Act seeks to prohibit employers and educational institutions from enforcing policies that exclude individuals on the basis of a natural hairstyle connected to their race.

The Virgin Islands CROWN Act would amend Title 10, chapter 1, sections 2 and 3 and Title 17, chapter 3 of the VI Code. By doing so, Bill No. 0147 would create a definition for “protective hairstyles” under the law, which include but are not limited to: “braids, locks, twists, cornrows, bantu knots, Afros, and other styles in which the hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled.”

Sen. Francis Heyliger explained the necessity for the law during an interview on the flagship news show of nationally syndicated Black News Channel. Despite the Territory’s predominantly black population, many institutions are not black-owned or operated and implement eurocentric grooming policies, Sen. Francis Heyliger noted during her interview with The World Tonight.

“It has to be a way of protection for people that were born black, that were born with specific hair textures, that were born with things that you cannot now decide,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger during the interview with host Nayeera Haq.

She expressed a similar sentiment while speaking on behalf of the bill during a Nov. 23rd session of the Committee on Education and Workforce Development, where the bill passed unanimously.

“There were so many in my community and around the world and in the United States that were being discriminated against because of something we were born with,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger during the Nov. 23rd committee meeting. “It was being utilized as a way to separate. It was being utilized as a way to hinder people from advancing in their careers and even limit people when it comes to education.”

If the Virgin Islands CROWN Act passed the Committee on Rules and Judiciary on Feb. 10th, it will advance to the full legislature for a final vote before moving on to the Governor for executive approval and enactment in the VI Code.

The Committee on Rules and Judiciary’s session on Thursday Dec. 10 will be live-streamed on LEGIT TV, on the 34th Legislature’s homepage and on the Legislature’s Facebook page.