A Texas high school has suspended a black student because of hair that could reach his shoulders if he let it down, just days after the state banned discrimination against black hairstyles.
Darryl George, 17, was kicked out of class and told his dreadlocks violated the dress code at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu.
His mother Darresha insists the style is in line with the school’s ban on hair covering the eyebrows or earlobes because her son wears it tied up, and has challenged the school to try to send him home again.
“This has everything to do with the government being biased against black hairstyles, against black culture,” she said.
“My son is well groomed and his hair doesn’t distract anyone from his education.”
Darryl George was banned from class and is being transferred to another school after staff at Barbers Hill High told him his hair is too long
Greg Poole, superintendent of the Barbers Hill Independent School District, denied that the policy is racist
It appears the case will be an early test for Texas’ new Crown Act, which is intended to prevent discrimination in school and employment against common black hairstyles.
The law, which stands for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” went into effect on September 1 when Texas became the 24th state to protect the right to wear Afros, braids or dreadlocks.
The school, where only three percent of students are black, insists the rules apply to height and not style
The school district says the dress code is intended to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”
“When you’re asked to conform and give up something for the betterment of the whole, there’s a psychological benefit,” said District Superintendent Greg Poole.
“We need more education about sacrifice.”
It comes three years after the school sparked outrage by banning another black student from graduating because of his hair.
Activists from Black Lives Matter Houston and the United Urban Alumni Association filled a school board meeting after DeAndre Arnold was found hanging over his shoulder-length dreadlocks.
“There is no dress code policy that prohibits cornrow or any other way of wearing one’s hair,” Poole told the meeting.
‘Our policy limits the length. It has been that way for 30 years.
“People want to call us racist, but we follow the rules, the laws of the land.”
Deandre also insisted he was abiding by the policy with his hair tied, and one activist said his suspension had less to do with the dress code than with “policing black boys.”
“We’re here for Deandre, but it’s about more than that,” his mother Sandy Arnold told CBS News at the time.
“This is about any other Deandres that might come through Barbers Hill.
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Mount Pleasant Public School in Michigan was sued for $1 million in 2021 when a teacher cut a seven-year-old biracial girl’s hair without her family’s permission.
“She was so embarrassed because she had to go back to class like that,” said father Jimmy Hoffmeyer.
“I heard people say it’s just hair, but for her it’s not just hair. That was her image, that was her self-esteem.’
Darryl’s mother Darresha said her son’s hair meets the school code that requires hair to be above the eyebrow and above the earlobe
In 2020, the school excluded Deandre Arnold, 18, from graduating because of his hair
Activists turned their backs on speakers who defended Texas high school long hair policy
Darresha George said her son has been growing his dreadlocks for almost a decade and the family has never received complaints from the school before.
“I even had a discussion about the Crown Act with the director and deputy director,” she told AP.
“They said the act doesn’t cover the length of his hair.”
‘Our hair is where our strength lies, those are our roots.
“He has his ancestors locked up in his hair, and he knows it.
‘His grades are declining, which also means he cannot play football or participate in extracurricular activities.
‘He was on track to graduate early, but now he is falling behind and will have to work double time to still graduate.
“On Monday he will adhere to the dress code with his dreadlocks, which do not extend past his eyebrows or earlobes.”
The Texas Legislative Black Caucus has warned the school that its policies violate the new law and have demanded that the violations be removed from George’s school records.
Mount Pleasant Public Schools in Grand Rapids was sued for $1 million in 2021 when first-grader Jurnee came home after a school librarian gave her a haircut without her family’s permission
But George risks being placed in an alternative school and his family prepares for a legal battle.
Their attorney Allie Booker said the school’s argument doesn’t hold water because height is considered part of a hairstyle, which is protected by law.
“We’re going to continue to fight because you can’t tell someone that hairstyles are protected and then be restrictive,” she added.
‘If style is protected, then style is protected.’