A Teenager Is Put Out Of School Because Of Her Natural Hair And Her Story Sparks The Hashtag #Suppor
In case you are wondering if kids are still getting put out of school due to the hair they have naturally growing out of their head, well let us be the first to tell you. Yes, yes they are!
According to Wapa.TV the latest victim to this type of discrimination was a young lady in the Bahamas at the CR Walker High School. The child was told by her principal that her natural hair was “untidy, ungroomed and unkept” and that ‘it’ violated school rules.
The next question you might have is probably ‘how was her hair styled?” Well don’t even bother to ask because the kids have all complained that they have been threatened with expulsion and suspension for just having natural curls, and that the school wanted them to straighten their hair.
The young lady, whose name is Deleveaux, has garnered a ton of support after her mother shared her daughter’s story on Facebook. She wrote that her daughter’s hair “does not affect her brain.” “What could possibly be so wrong with this hairstyle?!” she wrote. “SHE IS A BLACK CHILD WITH THICK NATURAL HAIR!!!!”
The post as you can already imagined went viral and has sparked a new hashtag #SupportthePuff and to this day women are posting pictures of their own naturally curly hair using this hashtag in support of the high school student and all the women and girls who are loving their naturally textured hair.
In addition to the hashtag, there is also a petition that has been created for the students in order to bring even more awareness to the negative message the school is sending when they barrage kids for their natural hair.
“This petition has been created in support of those students and we encourage you the potential voter to consider the damaging effects of telling our precious darlings that in the year 2016, their hair is not good enough to be worn naturally,”
The Ministry of Education in the Bahamas responded since the incident with the following statement: “We are fully cognisant of the sensitivity of this matter and are confident that after review with the school administrator, the school board and the individuals involved, the matter will be amicably resolved.”
While they take their time with dealing with the embarrassment of having rules and policies in place that blatantly discriminate against women of color, the hashtag lives on. It is crazy how this can only happen to black women, hopefully there will be a day where we will be able to stop fighting and defending how we are biologically designed.
