; purpose (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Throughout United States history, society has used (in conjunction with skin color) hair texture and hairstyle to classify individuals on the basis of race. (2) Like one’s skin color, one’s hair has served as a basis of race and national origin discrimination. (3) Racial and national origin discrimination can and do occur because of longstanding racial and national origin biases and stereotypes associated with hair texture and style. (4) For example, people of African descent have been deprived of educational and employment opportunities because they are adorned with natural or protective hairstyles in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, or worn in locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, or Afros. (5) Racial and national origin discrimination is reflected in school and workplace policies and practices that bar natural or protective hairstyles commonly worn by people of African descent. (6) For example, as recently as 2018, the United States Armed Forces had grooming policies that barred natural or protective hairstyles that servicewomen of African descent commonly wear and that described these hairstyles as unkempt . (7) In 2018, the United States Armed Forces rescinded these policies and recognized that this description perpetuated derogatory racial stereotypes. (8) The United States Armed Forces also recognized that prohibitions against natural or protective hairstyles that African-American servicewomen are commonly adorned with are racially discriminatory and bear no relationship to African-American servicewomen’s occupational qualifications and their ability to serve and protect the Nation. (9) Some Federal courts have narrowly interpreted the protections against discrimination on the basis of race or national origin found in existing Federal civil rights laws, including provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( 42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq. ), section 1977 of the Revised Statutes ( 42 U.S.C. 1981 ), and the Fair Housing Act ( 42 U.S.C.