Afro-Puerto Ricans Mobilize To Pass Senate Bill Protecting Natural Hair, Inspired By 'CROWN Act'

A proposed law protecting those with natural Black and Afro-textured hair is on the line in Puerto Rico.

Senate Bill 1282 is inspired by the CROWN Act, which is currently law in 24 American states and several cities. The Puerto Rican bill aims to ban discrimination against natural hair and protective styles in schools or professional settings.

Afro-Puerto Ricans and several organizations are advocating for Senate Bill 1282 in the U.S. territory. One of the most vocal about the legislation is Colectiva Resistencia Cimmarona. According to The Griot, the group’s activists partnered with Black female Puerto Rican senator Ana Irma Lassen to get the bill off the ground.

Co-founders of the collective, Cynthia Collazo Pacheco and Alanis Ruiz Guevara, spoke with the outlet. They shared their individual stories of facing hair discrimination in Puerto Rico as young students. Moreover, author and professor Mayra Febres Santos talked about how hair and texture prejudices in the territory are linked to systematic racism.

“It hinders the access of Afro-Boricuas to schools, to education, to higher pay, to higher level jobs,” Febres Santos stated. “In Puerto Rico, there is no lynching, but we’re killing you softly by denying you to get out of poverty and marginalization.”

“You trap the Afro-Boricua population in poverty, or you force them to migrate,” she further explained.

What Else Is There To Know About Puerto Rico’s Senate Bill 1282?

Informed by the U.S. Census, NBC News reported in January that over 1.6 million people in Puerto Rico “identify as being of two or more races.” Moreover, “nearly 230,000 identify solely as Black” of the territory’s 3.2 million population.

Senate Bill 1282 passed in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and Senate but awaits Governor Pedro Pierluisi’s urgent signing into law. Otherwise, it faces dissolution.

According to Ballotpedia, Perluisi lost the New Progressive Party primary on June 2. His term ends in January 2025. The Griot reports that if Pierluisi doesn’t enact the bill by the end of his term, it will have to restart its governmental ascent.

According to Primera Hora, Ruiz Guevara made a statement when Puerto Rico’s Senate passed the bill in April. Translated, she said, “This is a collective project where we have all collaborated with love, courage, and bravery to make it a reality. We will continue to put pressure on this project to be approved, we will not give up. Our hair is power, it is a collection of our ancestry, and it is our crown. We want to affirm that our children deserve to wear their African hair and styles free of anti-Black violence.”