Who would have thought Darryl George’s school year would go this way? Certainly not him, or his mother Dareesha George. Since last fall, the 18-year-old and his mother have been in an ongoing battle with Barbers Hill High School in Texas, all because of his refusal to cut off his dreadlocks.
The heated feud began back in September when Barbers Hill Independent School District suspended the teen for several days and threatened expulsion if he did not cut his hair. During the in-school suspension, George wasn’t given any hot lunches and sat on a stool for eight hours doing schoolwork without a teacher’s instruction, according to his family.
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Following the first suspension, outrage spread across social media, prompting many people to ask why a predominantly white school is policing this Black body?
Despite the Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — or CROWN Act as most people know it — prohibiting discrimination against Black students with natural hairstyles like afros, braids, bantu knots, locs, and twists, District Superintendent Dr. Greg Poole, insists on doubling down on the ramifications the George families have endured.
Now, nearly six months later, Dareesha and Houston attorney, Allie Booker, have filed a civil rights lawsuit stating the school’s hair policy violates state law.
“White boys can wear their hair over their ears and collar as long as they don’t braid it like a Negro,” Booker said in a statement to NPR.
What’s Poole’s justification for infringing on the student’s rights? The Barbers Hill dress code.
In addition, on Jan. 14, the superintendent released a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle justifying his decision, saying he believes the dress code is legal, and that it teaches students to conform.
“Being American requires conformity,” Poole wrote in the ad.
The message they’re sending to these other students is, ‘You either conform to our European standards of what a student should look like and dress like and act like, or else you’re going to face the same consequences.’
Ron Reynolds, Texas State Rep. and co-author of the CROWN Act
The folks involved in the CROWN Act movement disagree.
“Mr. Superintendent, if being American requires conformity, then please conform to the Texas CROWN Act which prohibits racial discrimination based on hairstyle,” they posted in response on The CROWN Act official Instagram.
“Your actions not only undermine the essence of individual expression, but also the significant efforts made to enact the CROWN Act in Texas. We must ask ourselves: Shouldn’t ‘conformity’ in America align with our laws and values that celebrate diversity and inclusion? Let’s continue to fight for the end of race-based hair discrimination these race-based practices.”
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In addition, one of the co-authors of the CROWN Act, State Rep. Ron Reynolds, told Houston Public Media News that Darryl has the “right to express himself the way he chooses to do by wearing his hair in a lock, in a dreadlock, and that is perfectly acceptable and normal and lawful in Texas for a high school student to do that.”
Reynolds also pointed out that what Black students are being asked to conform to is a European standard.
“The message they’re sending to these other students is, ‘You either conform to our European standards of what a student should look like and dress like and act like, or else you’re going to face the same consequences as Darryl and you won’t be allowed to attend school here,'” Reynolds said.
Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University and author of “Stamped from the Beginning” and “How to Be an Antiracist,” also explained what conformity actually means.
“To be racist in a multicultural society is to mandate and defend cultural conformity,” Kendi wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “To be antiracist in a multicultural society is to accept and respect every hairstyle, hair covering, and hair adornment. I want to live in a society where we teach young people acceptance and respect by first accepting and respecting them.”
And State Rep. Reynolds said it doesn’t matter how many ads the Barbers Hill district puts out.
“We are going to speak truth to power,” he said.
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