{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://watsoncoleman.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rep-watson-coleman-congressional-black-caucus-members-urge-senate-leadership-to-include-crown-act-in-end-of-year-legislation", "Rep. Watson Coleman, Congressional Black Caucus Members Urge Senate Leadership to Include CROWN Act in End-of-Year Legislation", "2022-12-15", "2022", "2022-12", "Democrat", "House", "NJ", "Bonnie Watson Coleman", "W000822", "watsoncoleman.house.gov", "watsoncoleman", "https://watsoncoleman.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 15, 2022) \u2014 Today, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) led a group of her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus in a letter calling for Senate leadership to include the Congresswoman\u2019s CROWN Act in its end-of-year omnibus funding legislation.\n\nThe CROWN Act would prohibit discrimination based on a person's hair texture or hairstyle if that style or texture is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin. Specifically, the bill prohibits this type of discrimination against those participating in federally assisted programs, housing programs, public accommodations, and employment. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans, led by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), blocked the bill\u2019s passage.\n\nThe letter reads in part:\n\nThis is not \u201cjust a hair\u201d issue, this is a Civil Rights issue. Hair-based discrimination remains a source of racial injustice with serious economic consequences for Black people. Yet, current interpretations of Civil Rights legislation often limit anti-discrimination protections to skin color, but not hair. This continues to leave many Black people vulnerable to discriminatory practices.\n\nMany Black people face discrimination at school, in the workplace, and elsewhere because the way their hair naturally grows out of their heads is deemed \u201cunacceptable\u201d or \u201cunprofessional.\u201d Specifically, Black women are 1.5 times more likely than white women to be sent home from work because of their hair.\n\nThe letter continues:\n\nThe CROWN Act bridges the gap in current anti-discrimination legislation. This bill would prohibit discrimination based on an individual\u2019s style or texture of hair by including an individual\u2019s style of hair that is tightly coiled or tightly-curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, Afros and any other style of hair commonly associated with a race or national origin in the definition of racial discrimination.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:32:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://watsoncoleman.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rep-watson-coleman-congressional-black-caucus-members-urge-senate-leadership-to-include-crown-act-in-end-of-year-legislation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3634830247610807, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}