A Black high school student in Texas has spent the past year taking his school district to court over hair policies he alleges are racist. Now, after dismissing most of his claims, a federal judge has denied an order that would have allowed him to re-enroll school.
Last August, Darryl George—a student at Barbers Hill High School in the Houston area—was placed on a week-long suspension for the length of his hair. George wears his hair in locs often tied above his head. But because his hair would be too long if untied, school administrators found him in violation of the dress code.
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The dress code stipulates: “Male students’ hair will not extend, at any time, below the eyebrows or below the ear lobes. Male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a t-shirt collar or be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down.”
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The stated purpose of the dress code is to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”
The day after George’s suspension, Texas passed the CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination on hairstyles and textures that are “commonly or historically associated with race.”
As George’s suspension stretched to three weeks, he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school district for violating the CROWN act and against Gov Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton for failing to enforce it.
Over a year later, the lawsuit is still making its way through court. Last month, US District Judge Jeffrey Brown dismissed most of George’s claims, particularly those alleging racial discrimination. Brown allowed the claim of sex discrimination to move forward since the school dress code does not give a clear reason why female students can have long hair but male students cannot.
After George spent the entirety of his junior year away from classes in in-school suspension or at an external disciplinary program, he suffered a nervous breakdown, attorneys said. He has since transferred to another high school. Despite this, George sought a restraining order that would temporarily bar his original school from punishing him and allow him to re-enroll.
“Judge Brown please help us so that I can attend school like a normal teenage student during the pendency of this litigation,” he said in an affidavit, according to the Associated Press.
On Friday—which happened to coincide with George’s 19th birthday—Brown denied this request as well. He reasoned that request was made too late and that the sex discrimination claim was likely to fail in the end.
Two other students filed lawsuits against the school in 2020 alleging racial discrimination in its hair policy. While one student ended the lawsuit by transferring out of the school, the second lawsuit is still ongoing.
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