Texas judge rules that district's suspension of Black student over hair length was allowable

A Texas judge has ruled that a school district was within the law when it punished a Black student whose long hair violated its dress code.

The Texas Tribune reports that the ruling stemmed from a dispute between the Barbers Hill Independent School District and Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School who has been sent to in-school suspension since August for wearing his hair in long locs.

Judge Chap B. Cain III decided that the district can punish a Black student who wears his hair in long locs, as George does, without violating Texas’ CROWN Act, which is meant to prevent hairstyle discrimination in schools and workplaces.

Texas legislators passed the CROWN Act last year. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of hair texture or protective styles associated with race. Protective styles include locs, braids and twists.

But the Barbers Hill school district successfully argued it can still enforce its policy that prohibits males from wearing hair that extends beyond eyebrows, earlobes or collars even if it’s gathered on top of the student’s head.

Lawyers for Barbers Hill said lawmakers would have included explicit language about hair length had they intended the law to cover it. Allie Booker, representing Darryl George and his mother Darresha George, asserted that protective styles are possible only with long hair.