The BulleTin • Sunday, May 2, 2021 A7
STATE & REGION
House approves bill to ban
hairstyle discrimination
Legislation would
apply to workplaces
and public schools
Associated Press
SALEM — A measure
passed by the Oregon House
would prohibit public schools
and employers from discrimi-
nating against hairstyles associ-
ated with race.
Following a 58-0 vote
Wednesday, the bill now heads
to the state Senate.
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing reports House Bill 2935
would expand existing laws
against discrimination to ex-
plicitly include “physical char-
acteristics that are historically
associated with race,” includ-
ing hairstyles such as braids,
locs and twists.
The bill is part of a national
campaign that emerged af-
ter a Black high school wres-
tler in New Jersey was forced
to cut off his dreadlocks be-
fore competing in 2018. Sim-
ilar situations have emerged
since, including an incident
in March where a volleyball
player at Portland’s Parkrose
High School was required to
cut beads from her hair in or-
der to play.
“Oregon does not currently
protect people from race-based
hair discrimination even if the
hairstyle is part of someone’s
racial identity,” said state Rep.
Janelle Bynum, D-Clacka-
mas, a chief sponsor of the bill.
“This means that Black people
can be denied opportunities
for employment or profes-
sional advancement without
consequence.”
Aside from expanding dis-
crimination laws to protect
hairstyles, HB 2935 also re-
quires public school districts to
include policies allowing stu-
dents to wear religious clothing
in competitive sports. The law,
however, says districts can bal-
ance hairstyle and clothing ac-
commodation with health and
safety needs.
Versions of the bill have
passed in nine states, including
California and Washington, ac-
cording to the coalition push-
ing the policy.
Comedian will get $35,000
settlement in border patrol stop
BY LIZZY ACKER
The Oregonian
Comedian Mohanad Elshieky was on his
way back to Portland from a set at Washington
State University in 2019 when he was taken off
the bus by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
during a stop in Spokane.
On Twitter, Elshieky wrote that agents “took
my documents and interrogated me for around
20 mins then claimed my papers were fake and
that I’m ‘illegal.’”
Now, over two years later, Elshieky is one of
two men who will receive a settlement after sim-
ilar treatment by federal agents at the same bus
station in Spokane.
Elshieky and Andres Sosa Segura — who filed
separate federal lawsuits alleging the violation of
their rights — will receive $35,000 apiece from the
federal government, according to a news release
from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
Agents demanded Sosa Segura’s “papers”
during a stop in Spokane while he was on his
way home to Montana in 2017, according to the
news release.
For Elshieky, who moved to the U.S. from
Libya in 2014 and was granted asylum in 2018,
said the incident shook his sense of safety in the
government.
Elshieky now lives in New York and works on
the TV show “Full Frontal with Sam Bee.”
In a tweet about the settlement Thursday,
Elshieky said he was glad the case is finally over.
“Maybe next time they should refrain from
harassing immigrants,” he said.
Find it all online
bendbulletin.com