The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials said his locs violated the district’s dress code.
Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received an in-school suspension after he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes. George, 17, wears his hair in thick twisted dreadlocks, tied on top of his head, said his mother, Darresha George.
George served the suspension last week. His mother said he plans to return to the Houston-area school Monday, wearing his dreadlocks in a ponytail, even if he is required to attend an alternative school as a result.
Clear cut violation of Freedom of Expression. This is an ACLU payday just waiting to happen.
Makes you wonder though…maybe diverting school funds into settlement payouts is the real endgame.
Not really, kids don’t get the same rights as adults and schools get to act like parents, so this isn’t a magical payday. Maybe if you can prove some racial discrimination, but the wording of the dress code is basically no long hair, which blocks many common styles across races.