Black student suspended over his hairstyle to be sent to an alternative education program

I don't think it's racism, just a school with fucking insane rules that should never be allowed:

Barbers Hill Independent School District prohibits male students from having hair extending below the eyebrows, ear lobes or top of a T-shirt collar, according to the student handbook. Additionally, hair on all students must be clean, well-groomed, geometrical and not an unnatural color or variation. The school does not require uniforms.

Why the fuck schools give a single shit about how kids dress themselves or wear their hair is beyond me.

I'm sure we could get creative here. Like, you could go with the Friar Tuck look with the top part shaved and that would be fine. I guess it depends on what they consider "geometrical"

The bottom left guy looks a little like a North Korean Tom Hanks.

Because principal is a bully and willing to use his powers to destroy lives. The methods to protect people are very slow and so he gets away with it for years until the district loses a major lawsuit. Then he quietly gets reassigned or retires and we pretend the entire thing never happened.

A previous case is certainly a good argument in court, however the opposition may be able to argue material differentiating circumstances that may not be immediately obvious (in general, not in this case). That is why it isn't considered an automatic win.

if I understand correctly, it's actually more illegal now, because Texas passed the CROWN act after the previous 2.

I suppose there may be differences that make a difference to the outcome, but it seems unlikely here.

And apparently blowing more money bussing people out of their state.

The problem is largely the structure of our democracy. The left shows up, they showed up more in the last decade than they ever have. And we're still sliding backward.

Because the way our idiotic system works, the number of people that show up matter less than the zip code they show up in.

Ilhan Omar's treatment of a woman asking for her political support in opposition to female genital mutilation was pretty close to being a liberal asshole politician (or it revealed her to be trying to have her cake and eat it; namely, that she takes positions designed to get liberal support, and simultaneously strategically acts like a regressive when it comes to FGM to get support from African hijabis and other Islamists).

Texas actually passed a law banning this. Yea... the State and current governor think this is wrong. Let that sink in.

best reference i've ever witnessed

The finger to the land of the chains

Land of the "free to tell you what to do."

Land of the fee, home of the slave.

What does that mean?

Specifically, it seems the school was explicitly told to target a single student in order for opening a way for the Governor to challenge the CROWN act in courts. It's pure political maneuvering. Picking scapegoats and destroying individuals to advance racists agendas.

It sounds like there have been a few other code of conduct violations and the schools issue with his hair style was the final straw. Who knows if the previous "violations of the code" were also rooted in racism, but either way, a hair style should never be the ultimate reason someone is expelled unless they've purposefully shaved an offensive slurr into their hair.

The school does not require uniforms.

To be fair it could maybe be counted under unnatural variations.

He is styling it in a way that is not typical for the society he actively participates in.

(second part not necessarily connected to your comment anymore)

But I think it's stupid to ban hair styles anyway. I often had some classmates with weird hairstyles and guess what, didn't distract me from school.

In my opinion the dresscodes for school should be:

• cover your genitals generously, ass and boobies (regardless of gender. I think there isn't place for shirtless guys in school outside of the gym). In general that means pants/dress/skirt and a shirt/top, but I wouldn't care if they wear a toga or whatever.
• don't wear extreme political symbols or other obviously widespread offensive symbols (e.g. a swastika)
• unless absolutely required by your religion, or physical reasons like a burnt face, never wear anything that covers your face. (medical masks in case of illness or pandemics excluded)

And that should be it (this list includes my limitations on hair styles and tattoos as well)

The fact you have a law about lawns is funny and sad at the same time.

And in this case it shouldn't be.

By implementing a hair policy that excludes styles and lengths which are clearly a part of black culture and a way of expressing identity in America, the policy is racist. Whether or not the intent was racism, it still has the effect, making it a racist policy. It can also be discriminatory towards queer people and other cultures.

The word you were searching for is sexist. I've been saying since the initial article that this might be unconstitutional under Bostock v. Clayton County.

You are saying the language of the written policy is not racist. It's ultimately for a jury to decide whether the policy in action is racist.

Not isolated at all. Black kids (especially girls) get targeted all the time. It's usually ignored or doesn't make the news.

Lol if you think banning hijab as a good whataboutism example wait till you hear your hair is banned and must wear hijab to even attend public school.

Can we talk about France’s stance on hijabs in school?

lmao, what?

ANY religious clothing is banned in France. This isn't Discriminatory, as it applies to Christians, Buddhists, Hindus etc just as it does to Muslims.

Maybe actually inform yourself before you start with whataboutism?

Can we talk about France's stance on hijabs in school?

Yeah. I support it. I also support this young women's choice to hair style.

Your false equivalency says more about you then anything else you wrote.

Get every fucking church out of public school and tax them.

Texas passed the CROWN-act to combat hair-based racial discrimination because that very same school already lost two cases where they discriminated black youths because of their hair.

For once Texas is on the right side.

So if it was some freaky white chick with pink and purple hair all over the place would it be racist then? Because those policies apply to them too. Don't be ignorant.

Okay, where are the white kids being penalized by this rule?

It doesn't matter if "these rules apply to white kids" if they are only actually applied to poc.

Well, it’s because they have to prepare us for prison as an adult. Wait until you find out that American schools are largely funded by property taxes. Which means rich neighborhoods that pay more in property taxes have generally way better schools than poor neighborhoods.

The United States is like a villain from a scooby doo episode. In every episode the “monster” is a person of color, or illegal immigrant, or an LGBTQ person. But when they catch the “monster” and pull its mask off. It’s old man US government every god damn time.

That's because you were raised to be a functioning member of society with enough tools to potentially succeed or excel.

They were raised to fail upward while grifting and scamming on the side while fighting for the opportunity to be a wageslave and entering a lottery to be successful. Or risk prison and become an actual slave as allowed in their constitution.

Ooh! I've got a thing about this!

In an Episode of the Youtube series Under the Blacklight, David Blight, a Yale professor brought something up that I think brings the American idea of "freedom" into a different context. He says “This whole new idea of what’s liberty and liberty for whom, can also kill. Especially when it replaces the idea of Liberty as that which has to be shared in some kind of common good.”

The idea isn't really new and is actually deeply rooted in America's past through to it's creation. Freedom should be a group concept in which we maximize freedom for the populace. Instead it's seen as individual freedom only. When you combine this with the idea that freedom is the most important thing, it results in people coming to the conclusion that they are justified in anything in the process of attaining what they want. And they'll use whatever tools they have available to attain this in as straight a path as they can.

America has always been a champion of personal freedom, whatever they say. It's founding was about a bunch of business men who didn't want to pay taxes so they staged a rebellion. There's still a heavy bent against taxes with the main argument being people don't want the government to have any power, but really it's because individuals just want to keep their money while disregarding the ways in which that money would improve the good for all people. At it's core America is a Selfish nation built of selfishness and getting yours before someone else takes it.

It gets more a little complicated when talking about motives of those in power, but boils down to the same, and they retain that power primarily by banging the "personal freedoms" drum.

To quote famed Discworld philosopher Granny Weatherwax,

"There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." "It's a lot more complicated than that--" "No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts." "Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--" "But they starts with thinking about people as things..."

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

but runs most of their education like part-time prison camps

Feel free to back that one up, a foreigner that's never gone to school here a day in your life.

My school here in Germany didn’t give a crap about anyone’s appearance. If you’re street legal, you’re fine in school.

And that's the way it is here 99% of the time, this is a private school in an independent school district, they have crazy rules and it's usually rich preppy kids going to them that all walk around like clones of each other. This isn't a race thing, it's a convenience thing where EVERYTHING is about race, especially when it's not. You'd know that if you live in this country. This tactic is nothing new.

My school here in Germany didn’t give a crap about anyone’s appearance.

Tell that to the French who ban all religious symbols

Man this is one school run by just a few people, all it takes is one goofy bastard to suspend a student. This isn't an "US" issue

Or, both.

Toianynoyhers. That might be the most egregious typo I've ever seen. I'm gonna hazard a guess at "too many others"? Hope I'm right, I've got $10 riding on it.

I just have this feeling that they just created an activist/future politician with this stupid stunt. They'll forget tomorrow. He'll probably remember the rest of their life and fight for racial justice his whole life.

Yea idk, being a bad student doesn’t mean the school should be able to dictate your haircut (as long as you aren’t having a hygiene problem. Young man looks fine in this photo).

Kinda hard to get a good education when the whole system is holding you back. Even if this kid had actual behavior problems, whose fault do you really think that is, the parents that are fighting for him or the system that is actively against him, trying to physically mutilate his identity, and seems to be putting him on a fast track to a for-profit prison?

I think they mean you gotta have a hairstyle that looks like it was directly pulled from a N64 era video game

Basically, take Ramiel's hairstyle as an example.

The school has proven itself incapable of adhering to the law, the administration should be totally replaced.

For those who come looking later it's a feature for the web frontend but wrt mobile apps Boost for Lemmy at least makes an absolute mess of both the spoiler tag and the asterisk as a standard character. The bold text, however, is my own emphasis and I believe the part that needs emphasized.

Hah, I had two threads about edu and I wrote you an answer about russian ones. I'm not the best person to tell you about texan schools, sorry.