Legal action as entered the conversation on the widely disputed suspension of a Black student who was told his dreadlocks were out of school dress code. However, the defendants in this case is the governor of Texas and the state attorney general.
A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against Texas Gov. Greg Abbot and Attorney General Ken Paxton alleging the suspension of 17-year-old Darryl George was a violation of the state’s CROWN Act. According to CNN, the teen was placed on a week-long, in-school suspension Aug. 31 after coming into Barbers Hill High School with his dreadlocks twisted into a ponytail. However, the next day, the state signed a law prohibiting the discrimination of natural hair at schools and workplaces.
Yet, even after CROWN went into effect, the school suspended George again the following week for coming in with the same hairstyle. Now, his family alleges the government officials didn’t do enough to enforce the law that could’ve protected their son.
Read more about the suit from PEOPLE:
The George family’s lawsuit accused Abbott and Paxton of failing to protect Darryl’s constitutional rights regarding discrimination as well as freedom of speech. Allie Booker, the family’s attorney, wrote in the lawsuit that the teen “should be permitted to wear his hair in the manner in which he wears it ... because the so-called neutral grooming policy has no close association with learning or safety and when applied, disproportionately impacts Black males.”
The Barbers Hill Independent School District said that they have filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit Wednesday, asking for court clarification about whether Texas’ CROWN Act bans grooming policies surrounding the length of a male student’s hair.
George’s mother told reporters her son’s hair rarely droops past his ears or rests on his shoulders because he often wears his hair tied up. Even with that being considered, she said the Barbers Hill Independent School District threatened to send him to an alternative disciplinary school if he doesn’t cut his hair.
The same school district in the hot seat over this suspension is the one accused of discriminating against DeAndre Arnold, a Black teen who was ordered to cut his dreadlocks to comply with the dress code policy on hair length. Arnold was threatened with being banned from his graduation ceremony, per CNN’s report.
The state’s who haven’t passed the CROWN Act yet better take notes.