A Black high school student in Texas found himself facing in-school suspension once more due to his hairstyle, according to his mother. Darryl George, a student at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received his initial suspension during the same week that Texas passed a law outlawing racial discrimination based on hairstyles. School officials claimed that George's twisted dreadlocks, secured atop his head, violated the district's dress code by extending beyond his eyebrows and earlobes.
17-year-old George was first suspended last week at the Houston-area school, and his mother, Darresha George, reported that he was visibly upset when he was subjected to in-school suspension again on Monday.
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This incident has brought hair discrimination debates to the forefront in schools and workplaces, testing the newly enacted CROWN Act in the state. The CROWN Act, short for "Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair," aims to prevent racial discrimination based on hair texture or protective hairstyles such as Afros, braids, dreadlocks, twists, or Bantu knots in schools and workplaces.
Texas is among the 24 states that have implemented a version of the CROWN Act. A federal version of the act passed in the House of Representatives last year but did not succeed in the Senate.
In George's family, dreadlocks have been a tradition spanning generations, embodying cultural and religious importance.
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Darresha George emphasized that her son had been growing his dreadlocks for nearly a decade, and the family had never encountered issues or complaints until now. When his hair was let down, it hung above his shoulders.
The Barbers Hill Independent School District prohibits male students from having hair extending below the eyebrows, earlobes, or the top of a t-shirt collar. Additionally, all students' hair must be clean, well-groomed, geometrical, and not an unnatural color or variation. The school does not require uniforms.
Darresha George and her son have refused to conform to a standard they believe is based on discomfort or ignorance.
The family has been instructed to schedule a meeting with the principal, but Darresha George lamented that after the suspension, "his grades are suffering, he was on track to graduate early, and now he is falling behind and will have to work double time just so he can still graduate."
