A Texas High School Student Is Suspended Over His Hair Locs

Darryl George, a 17-year-old black student got suspended from school over his hair locs. The hairstyle reflects Black culture, but the school said it violated the dress code and that the suspension did not violate a new Texas law banning race-based hair discrimination, reports The New York Times.

Since the term began in Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, Darryl has received disciplinary notice over his hair. He then was suspended for more than a week. According to his mother, Darresha Goerge, Darryl sits in a stool cubicle and work is brought to him. Each morning, school officials ask him whether he has cut his hair yet.

Legislators and activists have called the suspension alarming, because it would violate a new Texas law called the CROWN Act, which dictates that a school district “may not discriminate against a hair texture or protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race.”

The Barbers Hill Independent School District’s dress code says that a male student’s hair “will not extend below the eyebrows, below the earlobes or below the top of a T-shirt collar.” So far, the school suspended Darryl over his hair length, which is not covered by the CROWN Act.

Candice Matthews, a civil rights activist, and vice chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, said that the school’s acting violated the spirit of the law, and that the hairstyle is “cultural in nature”.

Darryl had been given until the end of the week to comply with the school dress code or he could be placed in a disciplinary alternative learning program.

Ms. George said that the hairstyle is part of his roots and culture and that they’re not going to cut his hair.