Hello Meltingpot Readers,
Today is the last Friday of the month, which means it’s time for Black Hair News. This is when I catch you up on what’s going on in the world of Black hair. And as you can imagine, there’s drama. So, go get your popcorn and prepare to be annoyed.
BLACK HAIR NOT WELCOME HERE
So, while the childless among us have been using the final few weeks of August to soak up the last rays of the summer sun, the rest of us have been sending our children back to school. And even though we’ve had to spend an entire paycheck on new shoes, reams of paper and No.2 pencils, there’s still a whisper of excitement around this time of year as our kids return to their academic lives (and we parents can get some semblance of our former lives back.).
But apparently, not everyone is being welcomed back to school with open arms. I’ve counted three different incidents in the last few weeks where Black children have been either turned away or removed from school because of their hairstyles. What kind of hairstyles are we talking about? If you guessed dreadlocks and braids, give yourself a red, black and green star. You’re right.
In Louisiana, an 11-year-old Black girl was sent home for wearing neat braid extensions because the school said it violated their policy that prohibits “extensions, clip-ins and weaves.”
In Florida, a 6-year-old boy wasn’t permitted to enter first grade because the private school where he was enrolled, has a policy that requires boys to have short hair.
And in Jamaica, arguably the birthplace of dreadlocks, a five-year-old girl with dreadlocks was turned away from her private school because the official school policy considers dreadlocks an unhygienic hairstyle that attracts head lice.
HOW IS THIS HAPPENING IN 2018?
Dear readers, I literally wrote the book on Black hair, so none of this ridiculousness surprises me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not all the way angry that these types of shenanigans are still going down…in 2018. I understand dress codes. I understand the need to have distraction-free classrooms. And I even understand hygiene. What I don’t understand is how people can still be so overtly racist with their “dress code policies” when we all know they know better. Do these so-called adults have no shame? I also don’t understand why school officials are even spending one minute of time policing hair styles when the United States is ranked 38th out of 71 developed countries in math and science. In other words, wouldn’t their time be better spent actually teaching something useful like biology and/or algebra, instead of trying to make every Black child ashamed of their hair-i-tage?
When I read stories like this, I’m not surprised there is an increase in the number of Black families turning to homeschooling in the United States. If people feel they cannot trust neither public nor private schools to educate their children without requiring them to whitewash their appearance, what other choice do they have?
What would you do, dear readers, if you child was sent home from school because of their hairstyle? Would you change the style? Consider homeschooling? Take legal action against the school?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
BLACK HAIR, BLACK POWER
In the meantime, I wouldn’t want you to leave The Meltingpot full of doom and gloom. I have some good Black hair news to share too. And that good hair news rests on the head of gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Adams. Not only is Adams the first Black woman to run for governor in Georgia, but she’s doing it with natural hair. In every recent photo I’ve seen of Ms. Adams, she’s been rocking short, neat twists. They look like they could be baby locs or even sisterlocs. I’m not sure, but I do know she’s not hiding her natural Black hair in order to satisfy somebody else’s idea of what a governor should look like.
So, in her own way, Stacey Adams is blazing new trails for Black hair.
She’s showing the American public that Black hair, in its natural state, is professional hair. It’s appropriate hair. It’s hygienic hair. It’s non-distracting hair. It’s leadership hair. I have all ten fingers crossed for Ms. Adams to win the election so that the next time someone tries to shame a young girl about her dreadlocks or twists, or tries to kick her out of school for her unprofessional hair, she can say, “If it’s good enough for the governor of Georgia, it should be good enough for your school.” Nuff said.
Enjoy the weekend, dear readers.
Peace!
(Photo credit: by Dellon Thomas from Pexels)
Comments
4 responses to “Black Hair Not Welcome at School”
All these “don’t be” messages. I thought hairstyle was a personal choice. Our child gets confused for another gender because of hair length. That is annoying, but not as blood boiling as the examples of censure you mention. On a happy note, thanks for talking about Stacey Adams!
Here in the UK my kids’ school has this as part of the uniform policy: “No extreme hair styles are allowed. Hair must be of a natural colour.” Brits always “try” to be “subtle”, and while I am not sure how this policy has been enforced in practice and if anyone has been sent home as a result, I have a nasty suspicion that it’s not the people dying their hair blond and cutting it in a pixie cut. What on earth is an “extreme hairstyle”, who determines it, who polices it, and who bears the brunt of such a subjective assessment?
Hi Lucy,
Thanks for sharing your story, even though it’s disheartening to see that the UK shares similar policies for policing the hairstyles of presumably non-white children. You make such a great point. Are there any girls being sent home for dying their hair blonde? And what does qualify as an extreme hairstyle? Isn’t that an entirely subjective assessment? Please feel free to keep us posted if anything around hair goes down in your kids’ school. I’d love to know how it gets handled.
Hi Rebecca,
As a person who has been studying hair culture for almost 20 years now, I am still learning how much hair impacts identity. Thank you for bringing up the gender issue as well. I know some schools won’t let boys wear long hair. Where do you think that idea stems from? And hopefully we’ll be talking more about Stacey Adams as we get closer to voting day.