A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. Now his family is suing Texas officials

HOUSTON (KTRK) — The family of a Black high school student in Texas who was suspended because of his dreadlocks filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Saturday against the state’s governor and attorney general, alleging they failed to enforce a new law prohibiting hairstyle discrimination.

Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been suspended from school since Aug. 31. According to school officials in the Houston area, his dreadlocks fall below his brows and ear lobes and violate the district’s dress code.

Darresha George, George’s mother, and the family’s attorney both deny that the teenager’s hairstyle violates the dress code, claiming that his hair is neatly tied in twisted dreadlocks on top of his head.

Darryl George’s supporters claim that the Barbers Hill Independent School District’s ongoing suspension violates the state’s CROWN Act, which went into effect on September 1.

The lawsuit also claims that in the course of their official duties, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton failed to protect George’s constitutional rights against discrimination and violations of his freedom of speech and expression. The family’s attorney, Allie Booker, wrote in the lawsuit that George “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.”

Abbott and Paxton, both Republicans, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent George from being suspended in school while the case is being heard in court.

“It’s time to take the fight to Barbers Hill ISD.” “In the face of racism, we’re going to drop the hammer of accountability,” Candice Matthews, national minister of politics for the New Black Panther Nation and a spokesperson for George’s family, said in a statement Saturday.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Houston by George’s mother, is the most recent legal action taken in connection with the suspension.

Darresha George and her attorney filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency on Tuesday, alleging that school district officials are harassing and mistreating Darryl George because of his hair and that his in-school suspension violates the CROWN Act.

They claim that during his suspension, George is forced to sit for eight hours on a stool and is denied the hot free lunch he is entitled to. The complaint is being investigated by the agency.

Darresha George stated that she was recently hospitalized following a series of panic and anxiety attacks brought on by the stress of her son’s suspension.

The school district filed its own lawsuit in state court on Wednesday, asking a judge to rule on whether its dress code restrictions limiting student hair length for boys violate the CROWN Act.

According to Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole, the dress code is legal and teaches students to conform as a sacrifice that benefits everyone.

While it awaits the outcome of its lawsuit, the school district has stated that it will not increase Darryl George’s current punishment.

The CROWN Act, which stands for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” is intended to prohibit race-based hair discrimination and to prohibit employers and schools from penalizing people for hair texture or protective hairstyles such as Afros, braids, dreadlocks, twists, or Bantu knots. Texas is one of 24 states that have passed their own version of the act.

Last year, a federal version passed the House but was defeated in the Senate.

State Rep. Rhetta Bowers, who authored Texas’ version of the CROWN Act, said Friday that the new law protects George’s hairstyle and urged the Barbers Hill school district to lift his suspension.

“The Texas CROWN Act was passed to prevent situations like this, and it is very disappointing to see Barbers Hill ISD attempting to find loopholes to skirt the law and perpetuate hair discrimination,” Bowers said in a statement.

Previously, George’s school clashed with two other Black male students over the dress code.

Barbers Hill officials informed cousins De’Andre Arnold and Kaden Bradford that they would have to cut their dreadlocks by 2020. In May 2020, the families of the two students filed a lawsuit against the school district, and a federal judge later ruled that the district’s hair policy was discriminatory. Their case, which received national attention and is still pending, prompted Texas lawmakers to pass the state’s CROWN Act law. Both students left school, with Bradford returning after the judge’s decision.