Black Hair is Political: DeAndre Arnold’s Story
It’s 2020 and we continue to hear stories about Black men and women being discriminated against based on the way that they decide the wear and style their hair.
In 2017, twin sisters from Malden, MA were sentenced to detention for wearing their hair in box braids.
In 2018, a young black woman in New Orleans was asked to leave class due to administrators claiming that her braided hair extension violated the private Roman Catholic school’s rules.
Also in 2018, the viral incident of high schooler Andrew Johnson being forced to cut off his dreadlocks in order to participate in a wrestling match occurred.
In 2019, an elementary school in Georgia faced public criticism for creating a display of black children’s photos for the purpose of displaying appropriate and inappropriate haircuts.
Hair discrimination has even been a recent topic among celebrities after Gabrielle Union shared her own experience of discrimination on America’s Got Talent.
In each of these cases, the institutions and individuals involved were publicly condemned for implementing rules that were discriminatory against Black people, whether or not that was their original intention. That being said, year after year, these discriminatory rules keep manifesting themselves in new instances across the country.
The latest instance? DeAndre Arnold of Mont Belvieu, Texas was told he cannot return to school or walk at graduation until he cuts his dreadlocks to comply with his high school’s dress code.
Source: nbcnews.com
Regardless of how Black hair is styled, whether it be braids, an afro, or dreadlocks, to name a few, Black hair has historically been policed in different settings, from the workplace to educational institutions. Arnold, a senior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, embraces his Trinidadian roots and wears locs as many men in his family do. As the result of refusing to cut his hair, as his school’s dress code mandated, Arnold was suspended. Not only was he suspended for this reason, but he was also prohibited from attending his own graduation ceremony and prom until he complies with this dress code, a decision made by the 70 percent white Barber’s Hill Independent School District Board.
The school’s dress code has since been amended, just months prior to Arnold’s graduation, and now stipulates that hair needs to be “clean and well-groomed” and not extend below the eyebrows, ear lobes, or the top of a t-shirt collar on male students, including when let down. While movements exist to rid schools of dress codes entirely in other parts of the country, for this particular Houston suburb school distric, is the dress code policy and its enforcement getting stricter?
Arnold himself expressed confusion surrounding his suspension, stemming from the fact that he regularly wears his dreadlocks pulled up to comply with the dress code. Unfortunately, the school board insists that if it was worn down, he would not be in compliance with the dress code, dictating that the teen needs to cut his dreadlocks. Essentially, Arnold doing what he can to simultaneously embrace his culture and comply with the dress code regulations, which were changed very suddenly, is not enough in the eyes of the school board. In fact, at a school district board meeting in January, the board chose to not place the topic of Arnold’s hair on the agenda for further discussion, despite pushback from Black Lives Matter activists, Arnold’s family members, and other community members present at the meeting. Hoping to come to a resolution together, Arnold’s mother reached out to board members and the superintendent, though she received no response.
As shown in the video, various board members seemed to have adopted an apathetic attitude toward the situation, claiming that they were wrongfully being attacked for performing their job duties. In a recent statement released by Greg Poole, the Superintendent of Barbers Hill Independent School District, Poole wrote on the topic, “That same community demands high expectations in all things including dress code, and our board of trustees, which has included African American representation, takes their role of representing our local community as one of their chief priorities,” … “Local control is sacred to this country, and we will NOT be bullied or intimidated by outside influences.”
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Hair based discrimination is currently only illegal in 3 states: New York, New Jersey and California. Many other states have issued guidance on this matter, though they failed to implement legislation that would protect black individuals from this unfair, highly personal type of discrimination to date. Without solid legislation to rely on across the board, instances of hair-based discrimination have historically been made newsworthy and received attention through people being loud about the matter. While the job should not fall on the shoulders of those who have faced this discrimination, it is often left to them to not accept this treatment and refuse to back down.
Another method through which cases of hair discrimination become more newsworthy is through celebrity endorsements. A few celebrities have used their platforms to draw attention to Arnold’s current situation, simultaneously calling for justice and supporting Arnold’s resolve. Deandre Hopkins tweeted encouraging Arnold to not give into the demands of the school district board. Actress Gabrielle Union, who publicly condemned hair-based discrimination after being ousted as a judge on America’s Got Talent for her hairstyles that were “too black,” encouraged Arnold to be loud about this injustice. Filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry, the creator of the Oscar nominated short film about black hair titled “Hair Love,” even used his platform to share the phone number and address of Barbers Hill High School, with the intention of pressuring the school board to overturn their decision. Petitions in support of Arnold have been started on change.org and thepetitionsite.com, and Arnold’s family currently plans to take the school board to federal court unless a resolution is passed.
Policies like this are not only discriminatory, but they serve to normalize viewing Black hairstyles as “other” or somehow too different to be acceptable. The public outpouring of support for Arnold from activists to public figures is a grounding reminder that this injustice is not being ignored or silenced. Black hair is beautiful, unique and often holds cultural significance, as Arnold mentioned.
