Although the CROWN Act in the USA is known to prohibit hair discrimination on the basis of race, it however does not include protections on discriminating long hair on Native American men since many Native American cultures consider long hair to be an important part of their cultural identities especially for men. The discrimination against long hair on male Native Americans is not acceptable. This means that Native American men should never be fired from their jobs for having long hair or that young Native American boys should never be suspended or expelled from their schools for simply having long hair. Because of discriminatory policies like sexist dress codes and dress codes made to make people look more ‘European’, many Native American men and boys have often been disproportionately denied employment and educational opportunities. Continuing to allow the discrimination of Native American boys and men for simply having long hair is essentially discrimination for being who they are, which means that they often have to suppress their identity in order to be accepted into American society. Historically, the forced cutting of the long hair on many Native American men and boys has often happened whenever the US Government set up residential boarding schools to forcefully assimilate Native Americans into a European culture in which they were forced to give up their traditional cultural practices and their languages, which essentially destroyed their identities. The reason that long hair on Native American men is so important to their identities because it symbolizes strength, spirituality, and it also represents a strong connection to their ancestors. Because Native American men’s long hair is so important to their cultural identity, discriminating any Native American boy or man is considered a form of race-based hair discrimination just like how Black people often face discrimination for having hair textures and hairstyles unique to their cultural identity such as dreadlocks, braids, afros, bantu knots, etc.

If the CROWN Act includes protections against Native American male long hair discrimination, more Native American men and boys will have the same access to educational opportunities as all other people in the USA while maintaining their cultural identities. In addition, making this amendment to the CROWN Act will help to foster a society where people can have long hair regardless of their gender identity whether it be a man, a woman, a 2 spirit person, or a nonbinary person.