New York to ban hairstyle policies that discriminate against black people

Human rights commission rules, believed to be first in US, target company and school policies that ban dreadlocks and other styles

Erin Durkin in New York
Mon 18 Feb 2019 19.17 GMT

New York City will ban discrimination based on hairstyles, a rule meant to stop policies that penalize black people.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights issued the new regulations on Monday. Believed to be the first in the US, they give African American New Yorkers the legal right to wear their hair in afros, cornrows, locks, twists, braids, Bantu knots and other styles.

The guidelines target grooming policies maintained by some employers and schools that prohibit hairstyles such as dreadlocks. In December, across the Hudson river in New Jersey, a high school wrestler was forced to cut his hair before competing, an incident that sparked outrage.

“Bans or restrictions on natural hair or hairstyles associated with black people are often rooted in white standards of appearance and perpetuate racist stereotypes that black hairstyles are unprofessional,” the commission guidelines state.

“There is a widespread and fundamentally racist belief that black hairstyles are not suited for formal settings, and may be unhygienic, messy, disruptive, or unkempt.”

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