Darryl George is an 18-year-old Black student at Barbers [ironic] Hill High School east of Houston. He has long hair he wears in dreadlocks. To go to school, George styles his dreadlocks in a tidy arrangement, leaving his ears, neck, and forehead bared. His photograph reveals a good-looking, well-groomed young man who seems to spend time ensuring he presents a pleasing visage to the world.
His school disagrees. They have repeatedly suspended him for his hair.
George's family and legal team say his hair is protected under the CROWN Act, which prohibits race-based hair discrimination against students and employers. The language in the bill is clear.
A PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN DISCRIMINATION IN STUDENT DRESS OR GROOMING POLICY. (a) In this section, "protective hairstyle" includes braids, locks, and twists.
Any student dress or grooming policy adopted by a school district, including a student dress or grooming policy for any extracurricular activity, may not discriminate against a hair texture or protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race.
Despite this, the school district claims George has violated the district's grooming policy due to the length of his hair, not the style. According to the student handbook, a male student’s hair cannot "be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down."
Today, a Texas court agreed with them and barred George from continuing his education with his peers — he must sit by himself in detention — unless he cuts off his offending locks. Why the feck George’s hair ended up in court is beyond me.
I went to a strict, English, all-boys, boarding school that required the students to wear a black uniform that comprised a tailcoat, waistcoat, and pin-stripped trousers complete with a starched detachable-collared white shirt, with French cuffs, and a self-tied white bow tie. We also had to have our hair ‘short back and sides.’
However, I, and many of my fellow pupils, would grow our hair long, slick it back, and stuff it under our coat collars. We were not fooling anyone — we played sports with hair flying wherever — but there was a gentleman’s agreement that as long as we looked clean-cut, the authorities would let the matter slide.
I have no idea why a Texas school district could not be as chill about the appearance of one of their students. Further, If George wanted to wear his hair in a full Angela Davis-style afro, why shouldn’t he be allowed to? Why in 2024, boys cannot have long hair is beyond me — and I am old enough to be approaching the “get off my lawn” stage of my life.
Do not get me wrong. I believe in standards. I even favor school uniforms (not tail coats), if the community wants them. But the guiding principle should be self-respect and respect for others — not a Javert-like embrace of legalism.
The school authorities should have taken a step back and asked themselves Is George observing the spirit of the dress code? Is he neat, tidy, and considerate? He sure looks like he is to me. I see no in-your-face, controversial embrace of political hot topics. No flaunting of his sexuality. No bad boy posturing.
George’s thoughts on the matter are depressing to hear
“There's been a lot of emotions on me. Anger, sadness. It feels very lonely when you're the only one stuck in a room for a whole semester, a whole year.”
These are not the words or sentiments of some anti-social yob. He sounds like a guy who wants to be with his mates — not making some profound societal point.
Some people will say, “Well, he could just cut his hair.” Why should he? The benefit to the school of a short-haired student is elusive, while the cost to the individual is high. A school is not the military, where the point of short hair is to tamp down individualism and promote unit cohesion. George is just a young man who is not offending anyone except those who choose to be offended.
I also suspect the school's demographics have something to do with it. Barbers Hill High School is in Mount Belvieu. A town that is 78% white and 8% Black. The smart money says whites wrote the school's dress code. They can claim their handbook is race-neutral, but that does not seem likely.
George's family plans to appeal the state case — while a federal civil rights lawsuit they filed last September against the state’s governor and attorney general is pending. What a waste of court time, money, and attention.
Would not everyone be better off if the state instead focused its time, energy, and cash on keeping guns out of the hands of potential school shooters? Or would that be stepping on too many white conservative, 2A-absolutist toes?
Pretty clear to me the white folk can’t stand the soul of this young man’s dreads, how sad for them but I suspect they don’t care, thank you Pitt
Sooo stupid. And historical. Ruby Bridges - First Black Child to Integrate an All-White Elementary School in the South. She started in the white school on November 14, 1960; that day 500 white students left the school. She was the only student all year. All white teachers left as well. One woman teacher came from Boston to teach her.