Shortly after starting his junior year at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, last month, Darryl George was separated from his classmates because of his hairstyle, his mother and lawyer said.
Since the start of the school year on August 16, Darryl, a 17-year-old black student, has received multiple disciplinary notices, ultimately being suspended for more than a week and forced to work from a chair in a cubicle. There is. His mother, Daresha George, said he was brought in by him. He said staff at the school, about 30 miles east of Houston, ask him every morning if he has cut his hair.
he hasn’t.
“He’s actually being chosen,” George said. “They’re stopping him personally, ‘Did he cut his hair?'” asked him on the doorstep. ”
George said Daryl has long locks, or rope-like hair, that he wears on his head in a barrel roll, a defensive style that reflects black culture. On August 31, about two weeks after school started, school officials told him that the length of his hair, even if pinned up, violated the dress code.
“Darryl came to school every day and was told he was going to be suspended because he didn’t have his hair cut,” she said. “Even if you put it up in a bun or pull it back neatly, when you pull it down it’s under her earlobes and eyebrows.”
Lawmakers, activists and other supporters of the families called the suspension troubling and said it could lead to a new state law called the Act. crown law. The law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in May, reads in part: Clothing and grooming policy School districts may not “discriminate against hair textures or protective hairstyles that are commonly or historically associated with race.” The law does not specifically mention hair length.
of Barbers Hill Independent School District. Dress code The law requires that male students’ hair “must not be allowed to grow below the eyebrows, below the earlobes, or above the collar of a T-shirt.”
District spokesman David Bloom said the dress code and suspension “does not conflict with Crown Law” because protective hairstyles are allowed as long as hair is worn down and does not exceed the permitted length. ” he said.
“The vast majority of penalties for hair rule violations (more severe than ISS) are handed down to white students,” Bloom said, using an acronym for in-school suspension, in which students are placed in classrooms with staff. He said he would be locked up. The teacher will guide you, and you will sit at desks separated by partitions so that you do not get in each other’s way.
The day before the law took effect on September 1, the school informed George of Darryl’s suspension.
Although the CROWN Act does not specifically address hair length, Darryl’s supporters argue that the district’s move violates the spirit of the law. Candice Matthews, a civil rights activist and vice chair of the Texas Black Democratic Coalition, said braids, locs and twists should be longer to protect the hair.
“It’s essentially a cultural hairstyle,” she said.
At least 23 other states have similar laws banning race-based discrimination in the workplace and public schools based on hairstyle.
On September 8, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus sent a letter to Superintendent Greg Poole and Superintendent Lance Murphy urging the district to clear Darryl’s record and saying the suspension would set a “dangerous precedent.” I was warned that it might happen.
“The school is arbitrarily coming up with something else when it’s not actually hair, it’s length,” said state Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Democrat who chairs the caucus.
State Rep. Retta Andrews Bowers, a Democrat and the primary author of the CROWN Act, said she was inspired by the law. crown uniona group advocating for other states to adopt the law, and a lawsuit brought by Deandre Arnold and Kayden Bradford, who attended high school in the same district as Darryl and are cousins, garnered national attention. During the incident, he was suspended from school due to the length of his dreadlocks.
“We expected that even if the bill was passed, there could be incidents,” she said. “We knew that the main purpose was to educate and raise awareness to make people understand. We are still on that path.”
Darryl’s case is not the first to test the new law. In August, when Katherine Huerta, a mother of an elementary school student in Mabank, Texas, was told she would have to cut her son’s long hair, she cited the Crown Act.Mr. HuertaOld WFAA-TVHer district later relented and said she could wear her son’s hair in braids or a bun, according to the local ABC affiliate.
George’s attorney, Allie Booker, said Darryl has been given until the end of this week to comply with the school’s dress code, or he could be placed in a disciplinary alternative learning program. Booker said she is considering legal action.
“We don’t cut his hair,” George said. “Because it’s part of his culture and his roots. It’s like cutting out a part of him.”
