After a short trial, a Texas judge ruled that Barbers Hill school officials are not violating a new state law prohibiting hair discrimination.
A Texas judge on Thursday said the Barbers Hill Independent School District can punish a Black student who wears his hair in long locs without violating Texas’ new CROWN Act, which is meant to prevent hairstyle discrimination in schools and workplaces.
The decision came after a monthslong dispute between the district and Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School who has been sent to in-school suspension since August for wearing his hair in long locs. Legislators last year passed a law called the Texas CROWN Act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of hair texture or protective styles associated with race. Protective styles include locs, braids and twists.
But the Barbers Hill school district successfully argued it can still enforce its policy that prohibits males from wearing hair that extends beyond eyebrows, earlobes or collars even if it’s gathered on top of the student’s head.
Judge Chap B. Cain III issued the ruling after a short trial in which lawyers for opposing sides argued over the legislative intent behind the CROWN Act. Lawyers for Barbers Hill said lawmakers would have included explicit language about hair length had they intended the law to cover it. Allie Booker, representing Darryl George and his mother Darresha George, said protective styles are only possible with long hair.
read more: https://19thnews.org/2024/02/texas-school-district-hair-discrimination-darryl-george/
This is so ridiculous and unnecessary.
Booker said after the Texas ruling Thursday that she intends to appeal the decision. She also said she will file an injunction in a pending federal lawsuit filed by Darresha and Darryl George against the school district as well as state leaders.
I hope this can get struck down on appeal. I’m glad they are continuing to fight. How racist and farcical. Poor kid.
Yeah, what about religious hairstyles, like Sihks having long hair gathered up on top of the head?
Just… let people have whatever hair they want…
I’m a man that has mostly had long hair since I was 14. It’s part of my identity. Their whole ‘collar length’ rule is one I would simply have laughed at them for.
But I’m white (and a man). No one tries to bully me when I set boundaries.
Fuck those administrators and their heavy-handed attempt to step on that child’s sense of self. Their school rules do not supersede state law.
And their rules don’t supercede federal law. Some religions forbid cutting of hair (e.g. Sikh), so that would be protected under the first amendment. If one individual is not obligated to cut their hair for religious purposes, surely another individual could choose to not cut their hair under the equal protection clause, even without claiming religious exemption. If not, one party gets special privileges that another does not just because they’re part of a protected class, which is unfair.
That said, I think they can absolutely enforce hair not going beyond your shoulders, since people can tie their hair up. There may be practical reasons for it (e.g. safety, such as in a shop class), or just a uniform standard of appearance. But that’s not what the article is about. If I were the student’s parents, I would seriously consider appealing on constitutional grounds.
Even beyond the obvious issue, boys being forced to have short hair is just sexist as hell.
My understanding is that he would have been allowed to have this style if his hair was long.
Its ridiculous, but they are not forcing men to have shirt hair in this decision.
The district suspended him and put him in ISS (in-school suspension) on the grounds that the code of conduct says that boy hair must be short. The ruling upholds the district punishing the student because his hair is long. This means that the ruling forces students to have short hair when the district mandates it.
You read it backwards. Boys are not permitted to have hair past their eyebrows, earlobes, or collars. The school district’s opinion was that it doesn’t matter if the hair is tied up in locs, the length of the hair violates their hair-length restrictions regardless of the style.
They have kept the student out of class since August denying him instruction materials and the school-provided hot lunch for not respecting the policy which, among other things, is meant to “teach respect for authority”.
Even worse, this is all despite there being a law in Texas that was explicitly written in response to a different Texas high school denying a student from attending graduation with the same hair style. But, according to the school board, and agreed to by the judge, the legislation did not specifically allow for exemption to hair length in school dress codes. They aren’t policing his hair style (that requires long hair), they’re policing his hair length. Which is, apparently, legal.
Why the fuck is that a school policy in the 21st century? And who the fuck thought it was appropriate to put a student into quasi solitary confinement for a semester and go to court to fight for the right to enforce institutional racism?
i dont even
The…the school district that is restricting hair styles is literally called “Barber Hill”? Like actually?
The policy:
This kind of shit is exactly why I don’t lower my guard around whites anymore; especially not the ones south of the Mason-Dixon. They get a little bit of power over you, and suddenly everything about you that makes them uncomfortable from your hair to your diction to the parts of your culture that you embrace all become open to sanction and life-derailing ‘punishment’. Prayin this man Darryl keeps fighting.
