Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP
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On Thursday, a judge ruled that a Texas school district’s ongoing suspension of a Black teen for his hairstyle does not violate the state’s newly passed law against hair-based racial discrimination. For nearly seven months, the Barbers Hill School District, located in Mont Belvieu, Texas, has suspended Darryl George, an 18-year-old student, for refusing to cut his dreadlocks, which the district claims violate the school’s dress code.
“It just makes me feel angry that throughout all these years, throughout all the fighting for Black history that we’ve already done, we still have to do this,” said George, who has not been allowed to attend classes since August 31, at a press conference after the hearing. “It’s ridiculous.”
In court, the school district argued that the CROWN Act, a Texas law passed last year to prevent race-based hair bias in school and work settings, did not restrict school policies on hair length. George’s legal team countered that length was baked into the act by the very nature of certain protected hairstyles.
“You need significant length to perform the style,” George’s attorney, Allie Booker, said to the
Texas Tribune. “You can’t make braids with a crew cut. You can’t lock anything that isn’t long.” Ultimately, District Judge Chap Cain III sided with the school district. The case made national headlines last year, with racial justice and education advocates warning that targeted punishments can tank Black students’ academic performance and damage their relationship with education.
As I previously wrote:
A 2021 University of Pittsburgh study, promoted by the American Psychological Association, found that not only were Black students cited more often for minor infractions, like dress code violations, than their white counterparts, but that they were more likely to report “an unfavorable school climate” the following year, resulting in lower grades. Another study in the journal Psychological Science found that students who experience in-school punishment are more likely to drop out and to face incarceration.
George’s family is still in the midst of a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, accusing the Republicans of failing to enforce the CROWN Act.
Correction, February 22: This post has been updated to reflect the title of Attorney General Ken Paxton and include Gov. Greg Abbott in the lawsuit.
