ANAHUAC, Texas – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee held a news conference Friday morning to discuss the violation of the Crown Act after a Barbers Hill high school student was repeatedly disciplined for his hairstyle choice.
Lee says Darryl George’s Constitutional rights have been violated by the school district and wronged by the state’s district court decision.
“His freedom of expression through his choice of hairstyle has no negative impact on fellow students or his education. The United States Department of Education should review this case and determine what rights have been denied to Mr. George,” the congresswoman stated.
George, 18, has spent most of his junior year at Barbers Hill High School separated from his classmates, sentenced to a mix of in-school suspension or class at an alternative education campus. He’s allegedly denied hot food and isn’t able to access teaching materials.
His offense: wearing his hair in long locs.
Since the start of the school year, George and Barbers Hill school officials have been locked in a standoff over his hairstyle — and whether the district’s dress code violates a new state law that prohibits discrimination based on hairstyles.
CLICK HERE FOR KPRC 2′S COVERAGE OF THE CROWN ACT
George says in legal filings that the district’s monthslong punishment has demeaned him and impeded his education.
Barbers Hill school officials, though, have refused to budge, accusing George and his mother of intentionally violating district rules in order to financially benefit in court. And they’re standing by their policy.
On Thursday, a Texas judge ruled that Barbers Hill can continue punishing George.
Attorneys for the school district and George faced off in a short trial before Judge Chap B. Cain III, who decided the district’s dress code policy does not violate Texas’ CROWN Act, a law that went into effect on Sept. 1. The CROWN Act — an acronym for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — outlaws discrimination on the basis of “hair texture or protective hairstyles associated with race.”
The Barbers Hill school district’s dress code says male students’ hair cannot extend below the eyebrows, earlobes or the top of a T-shirt collar. Male students’ hair also may not “be gathered or worn in a style” that would allow the hair to fall to these lengths “when let down,” the policy states. George wears his hair in a twisted style at the top of his head. According to legal filings, he considers them an expression of cultural pride and refers to them as locs.
The difference between locs and dreadlocks is currently the subject of a larger cultural discussion.
The CROWN Act does not include language about hair length, but the lawmakers who wrote it said before Thursday’s ruling that the law nonetheless protects George’s hairstyle because it prohibits districts from punishing students who wear their hair in particular styles, including locs.
Now, George will continue his in-school suspension, something he says deprives him of the usual school experience. State Rep. Ron Reynolds says he will file a new crown act which will include hair length.
“It feels lonely when you’re the only one stuck in a room for a while semester,” George said. “a whole year at that. It makes you feel some type of way because you can’t be a child like everybody else. You see everybody else talking, laughing, you can’t do that and it just puts pressure on your shoulders.”
The family’s attorney, Allie Booker, stated that they planned to appeal the ruling at a later date.
Darryl George and his family spoke ahead of the trial.
The Texas Tribune contributed to this story.
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