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…Neither should big puffs, braid-outs, braided and natural updos, coiled buns, crochet braids, crown braids, chunky braids, curly textured coils and the fluffy wash and go afros. But they do.
With culture wars finding a comfortable battleground in schools across the country, I now share the next time waster of a non-education “education” issue – HAIR.
Critical Race Theory bashers may see this as yet another potential woke school issue. But hey, let’s cut them some slack on this one. They clearly find themselves unable to relate since the issue is outside of their immediate experience – The experience of “Black Hair.”
I CAN’T CONENTRATE BECAUSE OF YOUR HAIR
It is unbelievable that hairstyle, primarily with black students is actually being discussed. School handbooks are stating “braided hair or corn rows will not be allowed” and “school policy bans students from wearing braids, locs and twists.” One of best is Afros may be “too distracting.” Either way, it sends the message that a student’s culture and identity are not accepted as norms. This is not to be confused with the black high school girl last week who was forced to remove beads from her hair during a power lifting competition as it was considered “head gear.” As if.
These grooming policies make it difficult for students to simply feel comfortable and be their own authentic selves, and they create another barrier particularly for BIPOC students because clearly these rules don’t affect people of all races. We “push diversity” in the schools, but when given the opportunity to be diverse and leverage student’s cultural differences, we fail.
HAIR AS HISTORY
We teach kids to be proud of their heritage as long as it doesn’t ruffle feathers. If it fits in the school’s handbook, then it’s good to go. We talk about each student being unique until they are too unique. We ask them to tap into their cultural history and share with others until they do too much, even though the stories are fascinating.
For instance, ancient African communities fashioned their hair for more than just style. Throughout the continent, a person’s hairstyle could tell you a lot about who they were and where they came from. It could take hours and even days to create these artful looks, so hair styling was also an important social ritual, a time to bond with family and friends, and a tradition passed on for generations.
DANGER, DANGER! – CRITICAL RACE THEORY SIGHTING
During the transatlantic slave trade an estimated 12 million African men, women and children were kidnapped and sold into slavery. One of the first things the slave traders did to the people they captured was shave off their hair. Considering the strong spiritual and cultural importance of hair in Africa, it was a particularly dehumanizing act, intended to strip away their connection to their cultures.
When free Black women in the South started wearing their hair in beautiful, elaborate styles that attracted a lot of attention, many saw it as a threat to the status quo. So, in 1786 the governor of Louisiana passed the Tignon Law, which required Black women to wear a tignon (scarf or wrap) over their hair as a way of signifying that they were members of the slave class, even if they were “free.”
In the 1960s, the Afro became a symbol of self-empowerment and activism.
FINALLY TAKEN SERIOUSLY
Present Day —The CROWN Act is the first legislation in U.S. history to ban discrimination based on hair style and texture and which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair” and seeks to protect against bias based on hair texture and protective styles, including locks, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros.
So it’s as clear as day that The CROWN Act has nothing to do with being a W-O-K-E topic but rather showing R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
This column is by Ritchie Lucas, Founder of The Student Success Project and Think Factory Consulting. He can be reached at 305-788-4105 or email at ritchie@thinkfactory.com and on Facebook and You Tube as The Student Success Project.
