Keep your head up, Darryl!
Darryl George, the Black teen punished by a Texas school district for refusing to change his hairstyle, lost his racial discrimination case as a judge permitted his sex discrimination case to proceed, CNN reports.
US District Court Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown issued his decision on the dismissed claims, saying that George and his family “have not shown a persistent, widespread practice of disparate, race-based enforcement” of the hair policy. “At most, the plaintiffs allege only two instances: the allegations underlying George’s case and those underlying the Arnold case also pending in this court,” Brown said.
“But these two instances alone are insufficient to establish a pattern of conduct going on ‘for so long or so frequently’ that it evinces a ‘persistent, widespread practice.’”
The judge also dismissed the family’s other claims, including infringement of George’s First Amendment free expression rights and request for “compensatory damages and injunctive and declaratory relief” for claims of “mental anguish.” However, the sex discrimination claims in a federal civil rights lawsuit can continue.
Brown said while the school district provided reasons why a dress code had been implemented, “they provide no support for the narrower question that forms the basis of this claim: what is the rationale for the dress code’s distinction between male and female students?”
“Because the District does not provide any reason for the sex-based distinctions in its dress code, the claim survives this initial stage,” he continued.
This ruling comes just a few months after another federal judge ruled the state’s CROWN Act, a law prohibiting discrimination against hair texture and protective hairstyles like locs and braids “commonly or historically associated with race,” does not rule out school dress codes that limit a student’s hair length. In summary, the Barbers Hill Independent School District did not violate state law in their continuous efforts to punish George for the length of his locs.
Following the CROWN Act decision, George described how the lengthy ordeal made him feel. “It puts a lot of emotions on me. Anger, sadness, you know, disappointment,” he said while holding back tears.
Brown agreed, stating, “Regrettably, so too here.”
Source: Black Enterprise
