State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015

CASE STUDY 20POLITICS IS ABOUT COMMUNITYAlthough Amber Starks didn’t know itat the time, a call to Oregon’s Boardof Cosmetology was about to changeher life. She wanted to braid fosterchildren’s hair but didn’t have a license. Ambersays, “If you touch anyone’s hair that’s outside ofyour family, you need a license. Volunteering isnot an exemption.”The woman on the other line jokingly said that theonly way around this was to change the law. Furious,Amber decided she was up for the challenge.Today, her name is synonymous with thepassing of HB 3409, which exempts natural haircare from the state’s barbering requirements.Previously, braiders were required to go through1,700 hours of cosmetology training, whichdoesn’t even include natural Black hair care.Although changing the law seemed to be amatter of common sense, the process wasanything but simple. It took Amber two years ofdiligence and persistence to see the bill becomelaw. Even though she was the face of the campaign,she emphasizes it was a community effort.The process started in early 2011. At the time,Amber was going through the Urban League’sSocial Justice and Civic Leadership Academy.Frustrated by statistics outlining disparities inthe Black community, she decided to take action.After learning Black and Native Americankids were over-represented in the foster caresystem, Amber chose to pursue hair braiding.“I didn’t want to volunteer just for the sake ofvolunteering. I wanted to do something thatwould help these kids’ confidence and self-esteem.”The Oregon Department of Human Servicesinformed her that she’d need a license.This prompted the frustrating call to thecosmetology board. After that, upset butdetermined, Amber began searching theweb for similar situations in other states. Thesearch led her to an article by Alan Durningthat highlighted unfair laws in the Northwest,including the requirements for braiding. Amberreached out to Durning, who helped her drafta letter to her state legislators. RepresentativeAlissa Keny-Guyer and Senator JackieDingfelder responded.Amber followed up with weekly emails until shesecured a meeting in the fall of 2011. There, theydecided the fairest solution would be an onlinetest for a hair-braiding license. The politiciansinsisted that Amber work with the cosmetologyboard and the Oregon Health Licensing Agencyto get a bill ready for the next legislative session,a year away.Over that next year, Amber launched an onlinepetition and social media campaign andattended a number of natural hair care events.Soon, local media took to her story. In particular,she credits The Skanner News’ Lisa Loving withspreading the word across the country and164