A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. The school says it wasn’t discrimination

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 695 points –
A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. The school says it wasn't discrimination
apnews.com

The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials said his locs violated the district’s dress code.

Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received an in-school suspension after he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes. George, 17, wears his hair in thick twisted dreadlocks, tied on top of his head, said his mother, Darresha George.

George served the suspension last week. His mother said he plans to return to the Houston-area school Monday, wearing his dreadlocks in a ponytail, even if he is required to attend an alternative school as a result.

159

You are viewing a single comment

... he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes.

Unless they have the exact same standards for hair length for all students, regardless of gender, that's plainly discriminatory.

Of course, in reality, hairstyle rules are stupid. As long as it doesn't cause a disruption (think smelly, or formed into the shape of a helicopter), whatever you wanna do with your hair is fine.

There was a kid I went to high school with in the 90s. His hair was what the punk kids called "Liberty Spikes," IIRC. His hair was easily 2.5 to 3 feet long. If my backwards ass hick highschool in the middle of the Midwest didn't have issues with that, then I see no reason that anyone should ever have to defend their choice of hair. Seriously we had kids that brought their tractors to school.

I myself was wandering around with golden locks that got down to my shoulders every year, till I shaved my head for the swim team. Balding sucks 😞

If my backwards ass hick highschool in the middle of the Midwest didn’t have issues with that, then I see no reason that anyone should ever have to defend their choice of hair. Seriously we had kids that brought their tractors to school.

There's always racism, the oldest standard in the US.

Wait, what makes "shape of a helicopter" disruptive?

If the answer is something like "outrageous style that would get too much attention", then that sounds like the argument for a ton of these kinds of rules. The main difference would just be subjectively where the line is drawn.

Hair shaped like a helicopter probably makes if difficult for people behind them to see.

So did beehives but those were perfectly fine for women when they were in style.

I would like to see schoolgirls (or boys) with beehives please

Plus it would likely blow all the papers off the desks of students around them.

I can certainly imagine a hairstyle which would block the view of other students. I know that's not what I was originally implying with the word "disruptive," but it's something.

Smelly I get, but formed into the shape of a helicopter? Hell yes I'd love to be distracted by that.

It will make you say "soi" repeatedly in your head in Microsoft Sam's voice, hence the distraction.

I don't think you could get away with smelly, and I don't see a problem with any non-dangerous haircut really.

I meant "smelly" in a personal hygiene kind of way, and school administration can most certainly take action to remedy a situation where a student is not hygenic.

In a very specific personal hygiene way, sure. But there are situations where you'd end up with similar complaints if a white administrator approached a non-white student.

Smelly is subjective too, as someone using the proper oils for their hair could be called smelly.

Smelly has been used for properly maintained dreadlocks that are far less noticeable than Axe body spray.

Yeah. I know I have no way of knowing if it's something that could be attributed to culture in some cases.

If my dreads smell of anything then it's of janitorial lemon because I use washing-up liquid (excellent degreaser, very skin friendly, and aside from that scent completely residue-free, also, unlike specialised products (which are the same thing with different scent) dirt cheap).

Dreads don't take on more odour than ordinary hair, if you were at a BBQ and don't wash you'll get complaints from hungry people either way.

3 more...