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by Sharelle Burt
November 11, 2023
A Black feminine cop from New Jersey is suing the city the place she works and her boss for hair discrimination, NBC Information experiences.
Chian Weekes-Rivera, a veteran police officer of the Maplewood Township Police Division, claims she was discriminated in opposition to after she was disciplined for carrying her hair in a conventional African coiffure. In a lawsuit filed in early November, Weekes-Rivera, 38, is accusing the division and her supervisor, listed as Peter Kuenzel, a Maplewood police captain, of subjecting her “to disciplinary motion for having Black hair,” which is a violation of the New Jersey Regulation Towards Discrimination, know as LAD.
In response to the State of New Jersey Civil Service Fee, the regulation “prohibits illegal employment discrimination based mostly on a person’s race, creed, shade, nationwide origin, nationality, ancestry, age, intercourse (together with being pregnant), familial standing, marital/civil union standing, faith, home partnership standing, affectional or sexual orientation,” and extra.
The swimsuit, filed in Essex County, described the incident that occurred on Aug. 20, 2023. Weekes-Rivera, got here to work along with her hair in a preferred pure and protecting coiffure — Bantu knots — having her hair sectioned and twisted. Greater than every week later, the regulation enforcement officer obtained a criticism from Inner Affairs claiming she violated the division’s on-duty costume code. Her sergeants have been additionally disciplined for “failure to oversee” after refusing to self-discipline her. A duplicate of the violation was included within the swimsuit.
Kuenzel referred to as the Bantu knots “rollers” and knowledgeable Weekes-Rivera that was the explanation she was in violation of the costume code coverage. Weekes-Rivera reminisced on being closely emotional after receiving the violation.
“To get that paper, it was cringeworthy,” she mentioned. “I needed to ask him inquiries to cease myself from crying.”
The officer is accusing the police division of being “aided and abetted” by Kuenzel, in addition to subjecting her to “self-discipline because of her race and ethnicity.” Whereas she continues to work on the division, she isn’t certain about her job safety or if the violation will prohibit her from advancing.
Figuring out as a member of the LGBTQ+ group, Weekes-Rivera says she feels added stress on high of being a Black lady in a predominantly-male atmosphere. She says she was “mortified” that she acquired in hassle over her hair.
“It’s tremendous embarrassing,” she mentioned. “It makes me really feel like lower than.”
Her legal professional, John Coyle, agrees.
He thinks Maplewood is setting a precedent with the act of self-discipline.
“Maplewood is making an attempt to ship a chilling message to your entire division that not solely are we going to discriminate in opposition to Chian, we’re going to maintain different individuals accountable for not discriminating in opposition to her,” Coyle mentioned. In response to the New Jersey Monitor, Weekes-Rivera was featured in a video referred to as “Sheroes of the Maplewood Police Division” in 2021 that celebrated the variety of its law enforcement officials.
In 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the CROWN Act, prohibiting race discrimination on the premise of “traits traditionally related to race, together with, however not restricted to, hair texture, hair kind, and protecting hairstyles.” The regulation was created after Andrew Johnson, a Black highschool wrestler, was pressured to chop his dreadlocks off to be eligible to compete in a match in 2018, drawing nationwide consideration.
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