Girl says Florida school threatening expulsion over her ‘natural hair’

[TheDag]

No, I never said her hair was not natural. I said it was not well kept.

not well kept is your opinion. not well kept is more natural.

 

[TheDag]

Hairstyles, even natural ones can be distracting. In a work enviroment, hair can be distracting or even dangerous, or unhealthy. So I think the schools should consider limitations on hair. Food service, you must wear a hair net. Working around moving machinery, long wild hair could get caught in machinery, many professions would limit hair styles as unprofessional looking or causing customers to go elsewhere. This is why schools should set and enforce dress codes. Establish in children what is expected of them so they can be successful in life.

Once upon a time if you had a tattoo people would think poorly of you and not hire you. Now people don't care for the most part. Yeah I cut my hair to find work but after having a job and growing my hair nobody thought less of my work as evidenced by performance based pay rises.
Yes in certain jobs you need to do things like cover your hair and that is reasonable and not discrimination. However for school it makes no difference. As I said if the problem is person at the desk behind that is the fault of poor setup in the classroom which is not ideal for learning so the school should change things anyway.

 

[RDKirk]

not well kept is more natural.

Hmm. Okay. I haven't heard that sentiment since the hippy era, but okay. Is the same true about hygiene?

An essential problem in this case is that--as is true in all private schools--there is a basic concept of how the student body is to appear so as to present the best image of the school.

The military has exactly the same thing--soldiers are not prohibited from wearing beards and handlebar mustaches for any practical operational reason. It's an "image" thing.

Every private school has an "image thing." The real problem here is that this school had an image--one that was basically "Caucasian" in concept. Because they hadn't really conceptualize their image beyond "Caucasian," they didn't really have a clue how to apply it to a more racially diverse student population until this incident occurred. Certainly a part of the problem was their kneejerk reaction (which is common to bureaucrats)--acting before understanding the situation.

But we as black people can't pretend that it's essential to our human identity that our hair fly free. We know better. Those of us who have or have had long hair know we pull it back or tie it down or stuff it into a hat or scarf whenever necessary for what we're doing. It's not going to stifle our essential essence to tie down our hair. We know that. We do that.

Any black person who claims that tying back our hair is damaging our personal identities is just blowing smoke up your skirt.

If the school has a well-defined overall "long hair must be controlled" policy effective on everyone, then it's no big deal to comply with natural black hair.

 

[Vanilla Scripture]

Hmm. Okay. I haven't heard that sentiment since the hippy era, but okay. Is the same true about hygiene?

You lost your argument and now you're going there?
Really?

 

[Ana the Ist]

Girl says Florida school threatening expulsion over her ‘natural hair’ | Fox News



First: This is a private school, so they can set almost any limitations they want and can expel a student for any infraction they want.

So, the family says the hair is not a distraction, the school says it is.

From the picture, it appears(pictures can be misleading) that the hair:
is about 6-10 inches above her head, billows over both shoulders on the sides, seems to protrude 8-12 inches behind her. I don't think length would be a problem. So there is a wall that is 2'x4' of wavy hair.

If this isn't distracting what is? At minimum she should have to sit at the back of the class(then the school would be called racist).

I know someone will bring up her ethnicity. She is celebrating her heritage with this hair. Who her ancestors were has no bearing on something being distracting or not.

I believe this hair is a distraction in class.

I don't see this as a problem of racism. It's an issue of uniformity. Of course asking/requiring her to change her hairstyle squelches her individuality....that's the point of uniformity. Proponents claim it reduces violence, bullying, and distractions from learning. Idk if there is any actual studies that prove such a correlation...but the girl's mother must've known this when she decided to send her daughter to a private school.

Now, if she's been bullied because of her hair, the school should definitely do something. Whether or not they should ask her to conform or in after the bullies is up for debate.

 

[wintermile]

The 2009 incident where a young youth's teacher cut off the youth's braids and threw them away in front of her because the youth was playing with them, is evident of how far out there issues of conformity are taken.


More recently, pulling hair back or braiding hair was banned--until an uproar.

The Lorain Horizon Science Academy in Ohio is facing heat from the natural hair community after a copy of a letter to parents that included a ban on afro puffs and ‘small twisted braids’ was posted online.

Ohio School Bans Afro Puffs and Braids *UPDATE!* | Black Girl with Long Hair

Even if the young Miss VanDyke pulls her hair back or cuts it, as directed by school officials, the student body is ignorant of Miss VanDyke's independent preference for a hairstyle that suits her fine. Per Miss VanDyke, an invalid conformity issue was worth her trouble.

 

[WanderingBloom]

The 2009 incident where a young youth's teacher cut off the youth's braids and threw them away in front of her because the youth was playing with them, is evident of how far out there issues of conformity are taken.


More recently, pulling hair back or braiding hair was banned--until an uproar. ...

From the linked article: ***UPDATE: Just received word that the school has lifted the ban. Here is the letter they issued today:


Per the 2009 incident described at the start of this post, had that been my child I'd have had that teacher arrested for assault on my child. And I would have sued her personally, as well as the school.

Racists need to be taught they shall not be tolerated. Violent racists need their backside beat in court. Barring that, in person works too.

 

[Sailor_A]

I think this is disgusting. Why should you have to chemically treat your hair so it lies flat or blow dry it every day? Her hair looks healthy and really pretty. Perhaps people need to learn how to tolerate simple natural differences. There are different hair types even within black people; some have quite soft hair with not much volume while others have thicker courser and curlier hair. It is not healthy to have straight hair as a standard for everyone.

 

[WanderingBloom]

Racism is indicated when the demographic of the school shows a preponderance of Anglo students and this beautiful young lady is told she must conform to the Anglo appearance or be expelled.

 

[apache1]

Racism is indicated when the demographic of the school shows a preponderance of Anglo students and this beautiful young lady is told she must conform to the Anglo appearance or be expelled.

I don't want to get into the racial or ethnic aspect of this, or whether there is one or not. I am just saying, she should wear her hair anyway she wants, nobody else's business. Enough said.

 

[WanderingBloom]

I don't want to get into the racial or ethnic aspect of this, or whether there is one or not. I am just saying, she should wear her hair anyway she wants, nobody else's business. Enough said.

That's all that most here who advocate for her are saying too. Unfortunately, what this school is saying is racist.

 

[wintermile]

From the linked article: ***UPDATE: Just received word that the school has lifted the ban. Here is the letter they issued today:


Per the 2009 incident described at the start of this post, had that been my child I'd have had that teacher arrested for assault on my child. And I would have sued her personally, as well as the school.

Racists need to be taught they shall not be tolerated. Violent racists need their backside beat in court. Barring that, in person works too.

Forgiveness is never on the back burner. I forgive those who have been ugly to me. However, I support justice.

What happened to this little girl was wrong.

I support major studies in history for young youths presented by those who have a passion for guiding us through oppressors' crassness.

Milwaukee teacher cuts off little girl’s natural hair as punishment, throws it away in front of her | Black Girl with Long Hair

 

[RDKirk]

I think this is disgusting. Why should you have to chemically treat your hair so it lies flat or blow dry it every day? Her hair looks healthy and really pretty. Perhaps people need to learn how to tolerate simple natural differences. There are different hair types even within black people; some have quite soft hair with not much volume while others have thicker courser and curlier hair. It is not healthy to have straight hair as a standard for everyone.

It's not clear she was told that.

 

[RDKirk]

I don't want to get into the racial or ethnic aspect of this, or whether there is one or not. I am just saying, she should wear her hair anyway she wants, nobody else's business. Enough said.

How students wear their hair is the business of a private school. How they dress, as well. The 1st amendment does not apply to private schools, only government institutions.

That same school explicitly prohibits mohawks, shaved designs, and rat tails, for instance.

 

[Ana the Ist]

How students wear their hair is the business of a private school. How they dress, as well. The 1st amendment does not apply to private schools, only government institutions.

That same school explicitly prohibits mohawks, shaved designs, and rat tails, for instance.

No mohawks or rat tails?!? Those are distinctly anglo hairstyles! I doubted it before...but now I KNOW this school is racist!

They're racist against blacks and whites!

 

[Vanilla Scripture]

No mohawks or rat tails?!? Those are distinctly anglo hairstyles! I doubted it before...but now I KNOW this school is racist!

They're racist against blacks and whites!

Sarcasm!
And it's wrong in the process.

 

[Cearbhall]

How students wear their hair is the business of a private school. How they dress, as well. The 1st amendment does not apply to private schools, only government institutions.

That same school explicitly prohibits mohawks, shaved designs, and rat tails, for instance.

I don't think anyone is denying that the school has the right to give her this ultimatum. It's about whether it's unethical or even racist and whether they should be pressured to change their minds.

 

[Vanilla Scripture]

A private school can not violate the civil rights of an individual student. They can not commit to racist policies.

How absurd anyone would even suggest such a thing is possible because this particular school is a private institution.

 

[Cearbhall]

A private school can not violate the civil rights of an individual student. They can not commit to racist policies.

How absurd anyone would even suggest such a thing is possible because this particular school is a private institution.

It's possible for them to get around it if the policy does not mention race explicitly. They didn't say "Afro-textured hair of a certain size or style is not allowed." It's still wrong of them, in my opinion, but I'm not sure you could win a court case against them.

 

[Vanilla Scripture]

I'd say it could be a valid fight at least and with chance of success.
Mohawks are not natural hair. "Rat tails" are not natural hair.
Hair that is of a distracting nature does rightly describe those styles. Natural hair is possessed by whites as straight, curly, or wavy. Blacks, when their hair is not processed. Native people is natural, Indians are natural. Those are not descriptions per natural hair that are distracting. Nor qualify as distracting. Because each racial hair style is natural unto that race.

To classify this black girls natural hair as distracting is racist.