A Black high school student’s family filed a lawsuit Saturday against Texas state officials that alleges they failed to uphold a new law banning discrimination based on hairstyles, AP reported.
Houston-area school officials claim that Darryl George, 17, wore dreadlocks that fell below his eyebrows and earlobes, thus violating the district’s dress code, according to AP. George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School, has been serving an in-school suspension for the alleged infraction since August 31.
George’s family and attorney argue that the teenager’s dreadlocks do not violate the dress code and have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state’s governor and attorney general, AP reported. (RELATED: Court: Making Girls Wear Skirts To Private School Is ‘Harmful’)
A Black high school student in Texas, 17-year-old Darryl George, has served more than two weeks of in-school suspensions for wearing twisted dreadlocks to school. pic.twitter.com/9GBJlqNGQR
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 18, 2023
The family’s attorney, Allie Booker, wrote in the lawsuit that George “should be permitted to wear his hair in the manner in which he wears it.”
Earlier last week, George’s mother and her attorney claimed in a formal complaint to the Texas Education Agency that George was being harassed by school district officials and that his suspension violates the recently enacted CROWN Act, according to AP.
The CROWN Act stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” according to the act’s website. The website states, “The Act criminalizes the targeting of hairstyles associated with race and prevents employers, educators, and oppressors from imposing stringent ‘policies’ related to physical appearances.”
“We’re going to protect him. They’re not in it alone. So, we as the Texas Legislative Black Caucus stand behind him,” State Democratic Representative Ron Reynolds , who was one of the authors of the Texas CROWN Act, told ABC News.
The Economic Policy Institute reports that two dozen states have enacted versions of the Crown Act.