Dreadlocks a "Forbidden" style?

[missbugg21]

I'm not sure if you guys have seen this article today... I felt sad for the little girl.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/tulsa-girl-switches-schools-over-dreadlocks-181400766.html

The parents of a Tulsa girl have pulled her from school because the administration wouldn't let her keep her hairstyle. Speaking with KOKI-TV this week, Tiana Parker, 7, said tearfully, "They didn't like my dreads."

According to the parent-student handbook of the Deborah Brown Community School, which Tiana attended until Friday, "Hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros and other faddish styles are unacceptable. For safety reasons, girls' weaved hair should be no longer than shoulder length. Boy's hair is to be short and neatly trimmed." The school's website also states, "Uniforms are required as a part of the strict dress code we strongly enforce."

Tiana's father, Terrance Parker, told KOKI that school administrators told him that his daughter didn't look presentable. "She's always presentable. I take pride in my kids looking nice," said Parker, who works as a barber. He also said that last year, she wore the same hairstyle to school without consequences. A school representative told Yahoo Shine via email, "We have photo documentation in our yearbook that her hair was not in dreadlocks during the 2012-2013 school year."

The representative added that Tiana's mother officially yanked her from the school on Friday at dismissal time: "The parent of the student in question elected to choose a forbidden hairstyle which is detailed in the school policy. The parent was asked to change the hairstyle, however on Friday, August 30th, the parent choose to dis-enroll her child from our program." Tiana is now attending another school where her hairstyle is considered acceptable.

Despite the school's stated policy, the incident is creating a backlash and some accusations of racism on its official Facebook page. Mixed among fundraiser invites, recommended children's books, and first-day photos are barbs such as, "Racism is to learning what sugar is to a gas tank," and "I suggest you read a few books about Black hair and its uniqueness....To degrade and exclude the little girl for a hairstyle is ludicrous, immature and asinine and unacceptable." The school serves about 200 kindergarten through fifth-grade students, 99 percent of whom are African American.
Over the last year, there have been a number of other reported incidents of students and parents clashing with school administrators over kids' hairdos. In April, a 5-year-old from Springfield Ohio was suspended from kindergarten when he showed up with a short Mohawk. A couple of months earlier, a 15-year-old honors student was told her dyed auburn locks were too edgy for her Utah middle school. In June, another charter school was the target of an intense backlash after it sent out a letter detailing this fall's dress code that included a ban on "afro puffs and small twisted braids." The dean of students quickly apologized and said the rule was not directed at girls' hair but aimed at male students who were expected to be "well groomed."

Some critics are saying the underlying issue in the Deborah Brown Community School case is that singling out dreadlocks and Afros as "faddish" is problematic at its core. "Naturally textured hair is not a fad, if this is important I wouldn't want my child attending this institution. You're teaching every student that black girls must change their natural physical appearance to be accepted and to achieve," wrote one detractor on Facebook.

However, the school argues that it enforces its dress code, including rules about hair, in order to "encourage respect and seriousness of school." And it means business. Even parents are asked to adhere to certain standards or they aren't permitted into the school or to accompany field trips. "Female parents or guardians should refrain from dress styles that do not require the use of a brassiere (go braless)," says the parent-student handbook, and "Of course, we cannot overemphasize the need for male parents or custodians to refrain from wearing trousers that sag."

Thoughts?

 

[Dellas]

People need to stop concerning themselves about black people's bodies

 

[ilong]

I did read the article and unfortunately I predict a trend on the rise. A trend where schools, employers, etc will dictate what is acceptable/unacceptable in hair styles, as a result of more women wearing natural hair styles. As long as blacks wear their hair straight like other ***uhhhmmm*** other cultures, NO PROBLEM. Now that "natural hair" is gaining momentum it is "unacceptable" "not appropriate", "not neat", "looks like your hair hasn't been combed". LHCF members have already mentioned experiencing similar reproaches.

It is very peculiar that it is acceptable for men of various cultures to wear turbans, jewish men to wear kippahs, muslim women to wear scarves, wraps (to cover their hair) to schools, events, work, or anywhere they choose.

How dare that school refer to an "afro" as a faddish style. So what do young black boys have to do? get their hair pressed or relaxed or have a circumcision of their hair to be "acceptable" ? Certainly if the school finds boys wearing afros "acceptable" and not the girls, they open themselves up to another area of discrimination - sexual. I hope that this family pursues legal action against this school [system] - I see so many civil rights being violated in various areas of our society that I fear our democratic society is slowing transitioning to a "dictatorship"

 

[iVR]

You can't fight a business on something like this, but you can fight a school on it. Telling a child how to dress and behave is one thing. Telling a child how their hair should look is completely different. Now I must say, I feel some people of color take going natural and wearing their natural hair entirely too far. Let me explain. Sleeping on your hair at night and not doing anything to it in the morning is not okay if you have a fro or voluminous hair style. Invest in a pick comb and pump that volume/shape back up. A sick fro/voluminous hairstyle does come across as messy in the good way. Going natural is all about being healthy, feeling confident in your own skin, and being happy with yourself. Black people/people of color know that our hair is part of our identity. However, we as whole have to accept our hair without chemical alterations, but that doesn't mean everyone has to quit chemicals. It just means we should be giving each other support instead of the stink eye.

 

[briacait]

This is completely unacceptable. Since when is the way my hair grows out of my scalp a fad? I'm tired of folks coming for black people trying to find any and every reason to make us feel like we're not good enough. I hope this little girl's parents sue because this is a horrible message to send to a child.

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[ilong]

@iVR - I believe it is important that precedences are not set so there is no need for a "fight" . Historical trends in corporate america will show when one large corporation "adopts" a policy -others follow (i.e. no smoking, health care, pension plans, contract workers, re-structuring, etc - the list goes on and on).

Look at the airline industry - Flight attendants now have the "authority" to deny or remove a person from a flight based on how they look or what they wear. You can be assured an attendant somewhere, sometime is going to attempt to prevent a black woman from boarding a plane or have her removed because "her hair is natural" and they (flight attendant) felt she was a flight risk. Bet on it!!

Also, in terms of

"some people of color take going natural and wearing their natural hair entirely too far...Sleeping on your hair at night and not doing anything to it in the morning is not okay if you have a fro or voluminous hair style"

...applies to EVERYONE wearing ANY STYLE - not just people of color or people who wear their hair natural. Every day I see individuals who are not people "of color" or who wear their hair naturally" look a hot mess with dirty stringy hair.
Naturally to me means wearing your hair in it's natural state - unaltered by chemicals. So the indivuals I see at work with matted, dirty, stringy hair are wearing their natural hair in professional corporate america.

Messy is messy, dirty is dirty regardless of ethnicity or hair type. This type of mindset is used to sterotype blacks and our culture. Institutionalizing propagana such as "if we allow blacks to wear their hair in a natural state they will come in looking messy and dissheveled so we won't allow it". But Jane can come in with matted stringy hair and John's kippah can be raggedy and torn.

 

[iVR]

@iVR - I believe it is important that precedences are not set so there is no need for a "fight" . Historical trends in corporate america will show when one large corporation "adopts" a policy -others follow (i.e. no smoking, health care, pension plans, contract workers, re-structuring, etc - the list goes on and on).

Look at the airline industry - Flight attendants now have the "authority" to deny or remove a person from a flight based on how they look or what they wear. You can be assured an attendant somewhere, sometime is going to attempt to prevent a black woman from boarding a plane or have her removed because "her hair is natural" and they (flight attendant) felt she was a flight risk. Bet on it!!

Also, in terms of ...applies to EVERYONE wearing ANY STYLE - not just people of color or people who wear their hair natural. Every day I see individuals who are not people "of color" or who wear their hair naturally" look a hot mess with dirty stringy hair.
Naturally to me means wearing your hair in it's natural state - unaltered by chemicals. So the indivuals I see at work with matted, dirty, stringy hair are wearing their natural hair in professional corporate america.

Messy is messy, dirty is dirty regardless of ethnicity or hair type. This type of mindset is used to sterotype blacks and our culture. Institutionalizing propagana such as "if we allow blacks to wear their hair in a natural state they will come in looking messy and dissheveled so we won't allow it". But Jane can come in with matted stringy hair and John's kippah can be raggedy and torn.

I understand paving the way, but businesses have their own standards. The business they attract/handle reflects on their employees. An airline removing someone because of their hair, risk a lawsuit on the grander side of things, which could cause a nice brush with bankruptcy.

As for my other comment that was not fully quoted, I was simply saying within the scope of what the article was implying about people of color. I didn't intend for it to be taken out of context. And if people are coming to your job with their hair in the state you describe that's a reflection of your administration.