The Denver City Council will consider a pair of equity proposals that would modify the city charter to remove the term “illegal alien” and add a provision to prohibit discrimination based on protective hairstyles.

The council safety committee unanimously passed the proposals Wednesday, sending them forward to the full council for a final vote in the coming weeks.

These proposals come from the Denver Anti-Discrimination Office, established in 1990 to work toward ending discrimination in the city.

“We do this work for our community,” said Interim Chief Equity Officer Kim Desmond. “We want to make sure that this government is inclusive, effective and equitable.”

The first proposal would amend sections of the city code that use the term “illegal alien,” replacing it with “worker without authorization.”

Historically, the term “illegal alien” has been used to describe a person who is not a citizen or a national of the United States. However, many advocates have raised issue with the terminology in recent years, calling it offensive and dehumanizing.

“The term illegal alien criminalizes individuals, but it also dehumanizes our residents based solely on their immigration status,” said Atim Otii, director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

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Otii said the new terminology is person-centered and focuses on the context in which it is being used, since it is used in public service contracts regarding the employment of a person without work authorization.

In April, the state of Colorado passed similar legislation, replacing “illegal alien” with “worker without authorization” in public service contracts.

President Joe Biden’s administration has also moved away from the term,  instructing federal agencies, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Bored Protection to use “undocumented citizen” instead.

“As I read contracts and I see that term ‘alien,’ it is a trigger for me,” Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval said. “Thank you for doing these things and holding this space; I think it’s so important.”

The second proposal would add protective hairstyles to Denver’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

This would prohibit discrimination in public education, employment, housing, public accommodations and advertising because of a person’s hair texture, hair type or a protective hairstyle.

This comes as society has begun to recognize that stigmas against hair texture and hairstyles perpetuate racism and racial biases, usually against people of African, Jewish, Latinx or Native American descent, said Darius Smith with the Anti-Discrimination Office.

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“Society has used hair texture, hair types and protective hairstyles in conjunction with skin color to discriminate against people,” Smith said. “Communities suffer harmful discrimination in employment, housing, education … based upon long-standing race stereotypes.”

Colorado passed its own hair discrimination law in March 2020, the Crown Act, led by Rep. Leslie Herod who said she faced the issue when growing up, being told she had to straighten her hair to look professional or beautiful.

As of March 2021, eight states in the U.S. have passed their own Crown Acts to ban hair discrimination, according to Global Citizen.

The two Denver proposals have received support from the Mayor’s Office of Social Equity and Innovation, the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, Economic Development and Opportunity, the Office of Anti-Discrimination and the City Attorney’s Office.

Both proposals will have to pass two full city council votes before implementation.

“We’re starting to see that shift, I think, within our city agencies,” said Council President Stacie Gilmore, in support of the proposals. “Folks are prepared to answer these questions around equity.”