Rep. Watson Coleman Rips GOP for Blocking Law on Discrimination Against Black Hairstyles: ‘They’re Hateful and They’re Racist’

(Mediaite)

New Jersey Democratic Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman tore into House Republicans for voting down a bill that would prevent discrimination on the basis of hairstyles connected to race.

The CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act received majority support by a 235-188 margin, but failed to meet the two-thirds threshold used to pass noncontroversial bills. Only 15 Republicans supported the bill.

On Black Star Network’s Roland Martin Unfiltered this week, host and award-winning journalist Roland Martin asked Rep. Watson Coleman why Republicans voted the bill down this week, when the last Congress passed the CROWN Act unanimously.

Rep. Watson Coleman did not mince words:

MR. MARTIN: You know, you said it passed unanimously, so all of a sudden now you have one hundred eighty Republicans are who opposing it? What changed?

REP. WATSON COLEMAN: I don’t know. I think they’re still angry about the Big Lie, and they certainly can’t quite figure out what a positive response is to almost anything. So that’s who they are right now. They’re disruptive and they’re hateful and they’re racist and, you know, a whole bunch of other things that are not serving their constituents well in the House of Representatives. There were 15 Republicans that did support this legislation the other day.

MR. MARTIN: See, this is the thing that that again, when I look at that comment by Owens, when I listened, there were some Republicans who said, Oh, this is the bad hair bill. I mean the mocking, if you will, as if this is really no big deal. When we’ve done the stories of young, the brother who was the wrestler, well, the referee said, Oh, if he doesn’t cut his hair, he’s going to. He’s going to be disqualified. The brother down in Wichita Falls, Texas. Same thing where they say, Oh, he has to cut his locks, even though it actually didn’t. It met the length requirement. I mean, these are the things that we’re seeing where, oh no, you can’t graduate unless you change your hair. It literally is the policing of black people.

REP. WATSON COLEMAN: Yeah, it’s the racism that’s so deep that you find anything that remotely reminds you of something, it looks different from you. It should be should be treated in a substandard way. So the youngster who was there had to be cut in front of a whole gymnasium before he did his or wrestle wrestling match. I am so proud of him because then he went on and he won that match. You know, we don’t understand the implications of discrimination and racism as it relates to the natural hair wearing. We don’t we don’t really understand or they don’t understand what it’s like for a woman to have to figure out how to cover up her hair before she shows up to work so that she looks more European and therefore more acceptable.