A judge will hear arguments on Thursday about whether a Texas school district can continue punishing a Black teen for refusing to change his hairstyle.
Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles from Houston, has been in in-school suspension or at an off-site disciplinary program for most of the school year. School officials said in August that George’s hair — which he wears in dreadlocks twisted neatly on top of his head, away from his face and neck — violates a district dress code regulating the length of boys’ hair. According to the student handbook, male students’ hair cannot extend past the eyebrows or ear lobes.
George has received letters and messages from people encouraging him and supporting his decision to not cut his hair, the family’s attorney, Allie Booker, said. The 18-year-old has said the support has made all the difference amid the headline-making controversy.
“I just want them to know that I hear them and appreciate everything and I’ma keep fighting,” he told Booker in a text message shared with NBC News. “This fight has been a struggle on me, but with their words, it keeps me pushing.”
George’s family says his punishment violates the state’s newly implemented CROWN Act. The district filed a lawsuit in September, requesting that a judge clarify whether that’s the case. Last month, State District Judge Chap Cain III in Anahuac ordered the case to go to trial, which is slated for Thursday.
“The Texas CROWN Act protects hair texture and the wearing of braids, twists, and locs. Those with agendas wish to make the CROWN Act a blanket allowance of student expression. Again, we look forward to this issue being legally resolved,” Barbers Hill Independent School District Superintendent Greg Poole said in a statement shared with NBC News.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the CROWN Act into law last May, prohibiting race-based hair discrimination at work, school and in housing facilities in…
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