Today (Sept. 23), a Black Texas mother filed a lawsuit against Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleging their failure to enforce the CROWN Act. The legislation, which prohibits race-based hair discrimination, was signed into law by Abbott in May and went into effect on Sept. 1.
Darresha George’s teenage son, Darryl George, has been serving an in-school suspension at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu since Aug. 31. School officials said that his hair, which is styled in locs, was in violation of the dress code policy. Darresha and her attorney have hit back at those claims, stating that the 17-year-old wears his hair pulled back into a hairstyle so that it does not fall below his eyebrows or ear lobes.
The lawsuit addresses the elected government officials’ alleged lack of protection of Darryl’s constitutional rights. According to The Associated Press, the filing states that Darryl “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.”
On Tuesday (Sept. 19), the Texas Education Agency received a formal complaint from Darresha’s attorney citing that the teen was being mistreated and harassed by school district officials over the length of his hair. The petition alleged that his ongoing in-school suspension violated the CROWN Act, denied the student a hot lunch, and forced him to sit on a stool for the duration of the school day.
The Barbers Hill Independent School District responded on Wednesday (Sept. 20) with a lawsuit of their own. They are asking the state district court to determine if the dress code policy’s hair length requirements are in fact a violation of the law. “Although we believe the new law does not govern hair length, we are asking the judicial system of Texas to interpret,” said Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole in a statement.
Barbers Hill High School has previously made headlines for targeting Black male students’ hair. In 2020, then-senior Deandre Arnold was told he would not be allowed to attend graduation if he did not cut his locs.