This morning, I saw a news story about race-based hair discrimination that got my tender heart for equality racing like a thoroughbred at the starting gate. Darryl George, an 18-year-old black student in a Houston area high school, has spent most of this school year out of his regular classrooms due to serial suspensions and disciplinary actions by the school board concerning . . . his hair. Darryl wears his natural hair in barrel-rolled locs that he twists into a neat bun against the back of his head. It doesn’t hang down. It doesn’t get in his face. It does not cover the eyebrows or the ears, which the school policy specifies as violations.
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Might I add: if white females in the school chose to arrange braids on top of their heads it is doubtful they would be singled out for suspension. White school administrators, parents, and government officials would not “see” that hairdo as out of compliance with the policies.)
Darryl’s family is suing the school system. They are also suing the state of Texas and the Texas Attorney General. Darryl’s family is spelling it out for those too blind to see: this boy’s hairstyle complies with the school’s policy, his suspensions are race-based hair discrimination, and those in authority are breaking the law.
Back in January 2019, I posted an article called “Hair” on this blog. It’s worth a fresh read in light of Darryl’s situation: https://www.livingasequals.com/2019/01/07/hair/. I am updating my plea for hair equality today because the intervening years have produced a law intended to address race-based hair discrimination.
In the state of Texas, the CROWN Act is the law. Passed in Texas in September of 2023, the CROWN Act is intended to prohibit race-based hair discrimination in schools and among employers. It specifically prohibits penalizing people for hairdos such as Afros, twists, braids, and dreadlocks. CROWN stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
The CROWN Act has become the law in 24 states since 2020. Here is a link if you’d like to learn more: https://www.epi.org/publication/crown-act/.
Despite the CROWN Act, year after year the New York Times, the Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, PBS, Time Magazine, and many other media sources continue to report on race-based hair discrimination in the workplace and in educational institutions; among children, job applicants, and employees in the workplace.
What can we, as individual citizens, do to address this issue in our personal environments?
Start where you are. If you are troubled by hairdos among people you see in your everyday surroundings – at work, on the bus, in the grocery store, among college kids – if you see braids and locs as abnormal hairdos – the most important thing you can do is to work on opening your mind and your heart. I would begin by reading the January 7, 2019 “Hair”
post on this blog. It will help you to reflect on experiences and memories about your own hair and what it means to you. This process aids in understanding the emotions involved in race-based hair discrimination.
Another important way to grow your heart is to act as an ally. Imagine helping others to think about this issue, finding ways to lift hair discrimination into the light of open conversation among family, colleagues, and friends. You can share this post and the earlier one on hair with others in your immediate environment. If you Google “hair discrimination,” you will find many other articles on the subject that are worth sharing.
If you are ready to take more action, write a letter to any school you attended – K-12 through college – asking for their policy on hair. Review the policy and respond in writing wherever you feel the world needs a voice for a respectful and open world for natural hair. I am doing this with my high school and will let you know the results.
Talk to a member of the Human Resources department at your workplace. Ask what an employee’s recourse would be if they are experiencing hair discrimination. Ask what employee training directly addresses hair discrimination. Follow up with an email to your contact in HR that lists a few links to online reporting about hair discrimination in schools and the workplace.
The most important thing we can do with all forms of discrimination is to get our voice out there, to find an avenue for responding as informed, thoughtful, and respectful members of our communities.
Note: I want to thank Jessica Festa, who writes a blog for solo travelers (https://jessieonajourney.com/) for inspiring me to write updates to my blogs. I attended her workshop on blog writing and found that a timely idea.
When I was teaching 3 & 4-year-olds in summer Head Start programs, we were required to visit the children in their homes. That experience offered lasting lessons about having first-hand knowledge of the child’s everyday experiences and family culture. School personnel need to know about a child’s home environment, need to meet parent(s) and caregivers, and need to understand varied aspects of the child’s home culture (neighborhood, extended family, occupations, values, struggles). How else can you claim to be aware of that child as an individual, rather than as a name on a roster?
UPDATE 2.22.24: The judge in Darryl’s suit against the school district decided that the school’s punishment of Darryl did not violate the CROWN Act. Read about it here: https://www.pbs.org/ newshour/nation/judge- rules-that-texas-high-school- legally-suspended-black-student-over-hairstyle
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Note: According to the superintendent of my childhood school district, Massachusetts schools have used the CROWN Act as the basis of their hairstyle policies since the governor signed it on October 24, 2022.
Hope Barton
February 16, 2024 7:02 amWhat an interesting article. I’m going to share it with my daughter, who is a teacher, and ask about her school policy.
Susan Anderson
February 17, 2024 4:34 pmThat’s a great way to keep expanding awareness of race-based hair discrimination, Hope. Let me know if she has comments and if she also shares the article.
Rob
February 13, 2024 3:02 pmAs always, Susan, you got it exactly right. We live in a country that has so many states and local municipalities that simply love to discriminate. Mostly, such discrimination is directly aimed at minority groups. As a white parent of two mixed-race children, I was aghast at how much I did NOT know about hair and personal care involving non-white children (and adults). Yet, our predominately white governing authorities want to continue the discriminatory practices that have been endemic to this country since prior to its founding.
I live in both Florida and Colorado. With the former state, under the “don’t say gay” governorship of Ron DeSantis, schools no longer present a safe haven for all students to learn. Instead, we now have book banning and behavior such as described in your most recent blog regarding hair discrimination. Conversely, Colorado, under the leadership of openly-gay Governor Jared Polis, is a more open and welcoming society. Let me quickly add, however, that even Colorado still has its local municipalities and school districts that share some of the same common discriminatory practices as Florida and other states.
Keep on calling it as you see it, Susan!
Susan Anderson
February 13, 2024 4:06 pmThank you, Rob! I just received word from the superintendent of the high school I attended that Massachusetts schools have written their policies to comply with the CROWN Act since it was signed by the governor on October 24, 2022.