A new case reignites racial tensions in the United States. According to the American press, Darryl George, a black high school student living in Texas, was suspended because of his haircut: dreadlocks. This hairstyle would be prohibited by the Barbers Hill High School District dress and hygiene code.
This code stipulates that “male students’ hair must at no time extend below the eyebrows or earlobes,” reports the CNN news channel. However, according to his family, he wore his hair neatly tied up on top of his head.
To challenge this suspension of a few weeks, the young man’s family announced that they had filed a federal complaint for violation of civil rights. She takes aim at the governor and the state attorney general. The family blames them for not enforcing a new multistate law that prohibits discrimination based on hairstyle.
In the United States, local and national regulations often conflict, although national measures take precedence.
A code with a “disproportionate impact on black men”
George “should be allowed to wear his hair that way.” […] because this dress code has no established connection to learning or safety. And, when enforced, it has a disproportionate impact on black men,” argues Allie Booker, the family’s attorney.
As the American agency AP points out, the school in question has already had to resolve disputes with two other black students over said dress code. Two young people had to cut their dreadlocks in 2020.
Like George, these pursued the equivalent of the rectorate. A federal judge finally declared the district’s hair policy discriminatory.
Source: BFM TV
