ENFIELD, CT — The father of a teenage employee of the ShopRite supermarket in Brookside Plaza said she was sent home Tuesday due to having new red streaks in her braids, and was told not to return until the red is gone, or else she would have to wear a head covering.
The incident garnered the attention of the Connecticut chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as several state lawmakers who feel the situation is discriminatory and in violation of the CROWN Act. They addressed the circumstances Wednesday afternoon at an impromptu news conference just outside the market’s entrance.
Signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in March 2021, the CROWN Act “expands civil rights protections by prohibiting discrimination, including in the workplace and other public accommodations, based on hairstyles that are commonly associated with people of color, such as afros, afro puffs, Bantu knots, braids, cornrows, locs, twists, headwraps, and wigs.”
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CROWN is an acronym for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.”
On Tuesday, Dior Pinnock, 18, arrived for her job at the supermarket, which she obtained about two and a half months ago and involves gathering together orders placed online. According to her father, former NFL player Andrew Pinnock, she walked to his car “shaking and confused,” after being told by the store’s human resources manager she needed to get rid of the red, or don a head covering.
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Andrew Pinnock said, “To see the look on her face, and on my birthday, seeing her come to my car shaking and confused, with a cake in her hand to celebrate with me. She comes here every day after school by an Uber, which she pays for with her own money, and to see her go through this, I had to do something about it.”
Pinnock said he went into the store to speak with someone in management, and was told, “She can’t come back until the red is out of her hair. She has to try to cover it. She brought me a plastic bag with a do-rag. I said you want her to push her all her hair up like this and walk around all day, and she said yes. It’s okay if a little bit is showing, but she has about two weeks to get it all out.”
NAACP Connecticut Chapter president Scot X. Esdaile cited a famous quote by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, about “judging people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. We shouldn’t be judging people by the color of their hair. We must accept individuals who like blue hair, orange hair, whatever type of hair they want. This young lady – this is her first job, and she had just gotten her hair done and was really happy about it the day before this incident occurred. She came to work to do her job, and then ShopRite tells her she must leave based on her hair. That should not be tolerated here in Enfield or anywhere across America.
State Rep. Robyn Porter of New Haven, who spearheaded the CROWN Act, said, “It has several hairstyles that are included, and hers is part of the bill. It is law that she can wear her hair the way she’swearing it. This has been on the books since 2021, but here we are in 2024 dealing with hair discrimination. We have a young lady who has been traumatized. What are we saying to her? That she can’t be who she is? Are we saying her hairstyle prevents her from doing her job she was hired to do? What is the justification for sending her home and not having a conversation with her?”
Esdaile said a protest at the store is being organized for next Tuesday.
“We are really upset about what took place here at ShopRite,” he said. “We will be back here organizing and mobilizing people all across the state to let them know how upset we are about how they treated this young lady.”
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Dior Pinnock was not present at Wednesday’s gathering; her dad said she is still overwhelmed at what took place.
“I told her don’t worry, Daddy’s got this and they messed with the wrong one,” he said.
Messages from Patch were not returned by anyone in ShopRite management.
Video: Tim Jensen/Patch
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