BY CECE HOLLOWAY

It’s not unheard of in the United States that a student or an employee goes to school or work and is sent back home because his/her hair style is deemed inappropriate. The latest known case, that of Texas High School student Darryl George, has most of the ingredients of previous similar incidents.

It all started last October when the 18-year-old Black student was suspended for 13 days on the ground that his hair style was out of compliance—at least so said the disciplinary notice his school issued.

The suspension letter signed by the school’s principal reads: “As the School Principal, I have determined that your child has engaged in chronic or repeated disciplinary infractions that violate the District’s previously communicated standards of student conduct.”

At the heart of the matter is the length of George’s braided locs which fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes. That, according to the school, is a violation of the school’s dress code.

George’s mother refuses to cut his son’s hair, arguing that the school policy on the basis of which her son is being punished is a violation of the CROWN Act, a new state-wide law in Texas that prohibits discrimination based on hair style. She took the next logical step by filing a complaint with the Texas Education Agency and a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state’s governor, the attorney general, and the school district. In response, the school district filed a lawsuit to find out if its dress code restrictions limiting student hair length for boys violate the CROWN Act.

For its part, Representative Ron Reynolds, an influential Black Democrat in the Texas House of Representative, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying in an email, in reference to the authorities, “They are acting in bad faith to continue discriminating against African American students.” The lawmaker allegedly said he plans to file an amendment to the law that “specifically addresses length to stop their pretextual argument to not comply with the Crown Act.”

After spending more than a month away from his classmates in an in-school disciplinary program, George says he feels being singled out, arguing that other students wear long hair without facing any consequence.