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.
Conservatives don’t want schools that teach how to think. They want schools that teach kids to obey.
The rules don’t really matter, if anything they want the rules to be as stupid and arbitrary as possible, that way they get adult workers willing to take “because I said so” as rationale for fucking anything.
Like how in boot camp they focus on the most inconsequential details. They don’t care how exact you can make a bed, theyre just teaching you how to follow orders
Greg Poole, who has been district superintendent since 2006, said the policy is legal and teaches students to conform as a sacrifice benefitting everyone.
“When you are asked to conform … and give up something for the betterment of the whole, there is a psychological benefit,” Poole said. “We need more teaching (of) sacrifice.”
It’s explicitly said by the superintendent.
Follow up question Mr Superintendent: in what way does prohibiting this particular hairstyle “benefit the whole?”
There is another quote from him saying it’s a rule that’s been on the books for 30 years. As if that’s a good enough reason to keep it rather than actually being a reason to reexamine it’s worth in today’s society.
He named his ego “the whole”
And not understood by any conservatives that constantly whine about selfish bullshit.
My kid is always amazed that despite violating the dress code she never gets in trouble. I told her that the rules aren’t there to be enforced equally, they’re there to give them an excuse to harass students and because she’s one of the “good kids” she gets away with it.
Trust me, as someone who was military, they care about how exact you are when making the bed. It’s not just about following orders, it’s how well you follow them and your attention to detail.
Oddly, my military experience also focused on how to break rules, and how to know which ones to break. That and the knowledge that there was a waiver for everything.
I mean, have you seen how they design schools these days? I’ve seen jails that looked less secure, and more comfy. They’re conditioning the kids knowing that 1/4 will end up in jail or on probation at some point in their lives. They don’t see them as children, they see them as potential “criminals” to wring every dollar they can out of.
Looks like the superintendent is all about following the rules to a T - that is unless it’s his kid - in which case he’ll gladly obstruct an investigation a likely DUI.
Barbers Hill High School
The irony is stunning.
The barbers have chosen their hill.
Seems like Iran is the role model for many Americans. Land of the free is nothing but a sad joke. 🤥
Remember the country was started by a bunch of religious crazies that were being perse- I mean, properly called out for their insanity back in Europe. So they decided to come here and commit theft, rape, and genocide, so they could abuse their families without those pesky others telling them it was wrong.
I think there was a hunger situation too, but yes there were a good deal religious fanatics from the start.
commit theft, rape, and genocide, so they could abuse their families without those pesky others telling them it was wrong.
I’m pretty sure Europe did the same thing on an even larger scale. Napoleon, Dutch East India Company, the English, Conquistadors, the rape of Africa etc.
Doing it because religion is somehow worse than doing it because of greed?
Yes. Greed is at least real.
American conservatives have always been jealous of Iran for living the life they want: a crushing theocratic regime who punishes everyone except for an elite clique.
Yes they love authoritarian bullshit, that’s why so many of them are also borderline if not full fledged fascists.
The classic idea that someone’s hairstyle can be more disruptive than harassing a student and suspending them. This comes down to racism plain and simple.
… he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes.
Unless they have the exact same standards for hair length for all students, regardless of gender, that’s plainly discriminatory.
Of course, in reality, hairstyle rules are stupid. As long as it doesn’t cause a disruption (think smelly, or formed into the shape of a helicopter), whatever you wanna do with your hair is fine.
There was a kid I went to high school with in the 90s. His hair was what the punk kids called “Liberty Spikes,” IIRC. His hair was easily 2.5 to 3 feet long. If my backwards ass hick highschool in the middle of the Midwest didn’t have issues with that, then I see no reason that anyone should ever have to defend their choice of hair. Seriously we had kids that brought their tractors to school.
I myself was wandering around with golden locks that got down to my shoulders every year, till I shaved my head for the swim team. Balding sucks 😞
If my backwards ass hick highschool in the middle of the Midwest didn’t have issues with that, then I see no reason that anyone should ever have to defend their choice of hair. Seriously we had kids that brought their tractors to school.
There’s always racism, the oldest standard in the US.
Wait, what makes “shape of a helicopter” disruptive?
If the answer is something like “outrageous style that would get too much attention”, then that sounds like the argument for a ton of these kinds of rules. The main difference would just be subjectively where the line is drawn.
I can certainly imagine a hairstyle which would block the view of other students. I know that’s not what I was originally implying with the word “disruptive,” but it’s something.
Hair shaped like a helicopter probably makes if difficult for people behind them to see.
So did beehives but those were perfectly fine for women when they were in style.
I would like to see schoolgirls (or boys) with beehives please
She’s built for speed.
Unless they have the exact same standards for hair length for all students, regardless of gender, that’s plainly discriminatory
I would suggest that in almost all cases a unified standard would actually be guaranteed to be discriminatory, in much the same way a unified standard for how tall you’re allowed to be would be. The only thing I can think of that wouldn’t would be if everyone had to have their heads shaved as “the standard”.
Biologically/genetically, and socially, different (protected!) groups have different hair and expectations about how that hair can be styled.
Even the “head shaved” thing, while possible with any hair no matter what the underlying biology and genetics, would be torture for a sizable number of women in a modern society.
With the right tattoos a shaved head can be more disruptive than any haircut
If there is any appearance standard, it must apply to all students in the exact same way. If girls are allowed to have hair which “falls below the eyebrows or earlobes,” but boys are not, that is discrimination based on gender. If girls are allowed to wear “skirts below the knee,” but boys are not, that is discrimination based on gender.
I’m in no way suggesting that girls be held to the appearance standards that boys are held to; rather, boys should be held to the appearance standards that girls are held to.
Smelly I get, but formed into the shape of a helicopter? Hell yes I’d love to be distracted by that.
I don’t think you could get away with smelly, and I don’t see a problem with any non-dangerous haircut really.
Smelly is subjective too, as someone using the proper oils for their hair could be called smelly.
Smelly has been used for properly maintained dreadlocks that are far less noticeable than Axe body spray.
Yeah. I know I have no way of knowing if it’s something that could be attributed to culture in some cases.
I meant “smelly” in a personal hygiene kind of way, and school administration can most certainly take action to remedy a situation where a student is not hygenic.
In a very specific personal hygiene way, sure. But there are situations where you’d end up with similar complaints if a white administrator approached a non-white student.
I used to work at a company that practically refused to hire black people because their dress code precluded basically every common black hairstyle.
It pisses me off that dreads and braids are some sort of white-collar taboo.
This isn’t an accident.
It’s to give plausible deniability to racists who don’t want to deal with EEOC violations as often.
It’s a way of making anyone except for a specific culture of people feel uncomfortable. “You can come work here but you won’t like it so don’t try” is the message they are using instead of “we are racist and understand it’s distasteful to say it openly” but it produces the same effect.
Wow that shouldn’t be legal!
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Policies like this this only exist to force others to conform to social norms and punish individuality. No reason why individual expression should be condemned. You really see things like this in all walks of life schools, work places etc. Society will actively punish you for diverting from the norm in if its completely harmless.
No. Policies like this exist because racism.
It can be both.
… he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes.
But… the picture from the article says that’s how he wore his hair to school, and it is clearly not obstructing his eyebrows or earlobes. What gives? I feel it’s a hard argument to say that this is not racial discrimination.
That’s an insane requirement. Pretty much 100% of students would need to cut their hair immediately.
it’s genuinely insane to think people still care about haircuts. haircuts! don’t we have better things to focus on. the school officials should be put in therapy
They don’t need therapy, since racism isn’t a mental health problem.
What they need is anti-racism, and conscious and unconscious bias training (which also doesn’t actually solve anything since racism is and will continue to be a systemic issue)They need to travel, attend university, and spend time in cities.
No.
Racism is a systemic issue that affects every wealth bracket and living area.
Pretending as if racism only exists in backwater towns among “uneducated” people, and not in big cities or higher education (both within the institution and among those graduating from it), is being wilfully ignorant at best.Yeah you’re not wrong. Maybe my suggestions are not enough. What is missing?
What is missing?
Aiming at the systems and people that created, sow, and benefit from racism, instead of at their end products, like white supremacy and capitalism which relies on it.
The crown act needs to be federal
His hair looks awesome tho, man even in Socialist Republic of Canuckistan are we that bad.
It’s not like it’s even shitty or something. That was done skillfully and it’s kind of sad they take issue with it.
Y’all are more than welcome up here in the north, lord knows these hateful people will start migrating when the global warming starts setting in.
Lots of fresh water and land up here : )
North is just a different kind of racism
Sometimes, yeah. But you’ve got more allies too and we’re loud and annoying. Black Lives Matter!!! :3
That reminds me, the progressives are now using the term BIPOC, which emphasizes that not all PoC had the same struggles, and that Black and Indigenous had it harder.
So even amongst progressives, as a Hispanic, I feel like a second class minority.
Not where I’m at. Didn’t let anger and corrupt politicians spoil or attitudes towards our fellow man and destroy what natural resources we had.
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.
But it doesn’t block gender discrimination. Unless all girls are required to have pixie cuts.
Ok I’m a old white dude and this hairstyle is pretty badass, damn near art. What the fuck is wrong with people?
Racism.
Also sexism, agism, queerphobia, nationalism, xenophobia, et al.
