School Bars Teen Over Racial Hair Row -

The Mirror - UK ^ | June 21, 2004 | Tom Parry

[UnklGene]

SCHOOL BARS TEEN OVER RACIAL HAIR ROW -

Jun 21 2004

By Tom Parry

A TEENAGER was sent home from school for wearing her hair in braids, even though other pupils are allowed the style for cultural reasons.

Jade Fitzjohn, 14, had the trendy plaits done while on holiday in Spain. But back at school, she was told to take them out or be barred.

Jade refused so staff excluded her from lessons, saying she could not return until she was braid-free. When she pointed out that two black girls had an identical style, she was told they were allowed to wear them for cultural reasons.

Jade's two younger sisters removed their braids after a warning from staff at St Edmonds Catholic School, Southsea, Hants. But Jade refused to back down.

Her mother, Amanda Fitzjohn, supports her, saying the ruling was racist unless it applied to everyone.

She added: "I was stunned when I heard Jade was being excluded for her braids because two other girls wear them. But apparently it is fine for them to sport them because of their culture.

"If a school is going to have a rule, it should apply across the board, not be discriminatory towards my daughter because she is white rather than black.

"Jade's hair is tied back and is neat and tidy. It does not interfere with her schoolwork. She gets good grades and is a good student. The hairdo was done as a treat as Jade had been having a hard time. It was expensive, too."

But headteacher Neil Brett said there was a zero-tolerance policy towards flouting school rules.

The restriction was waived for the two Afro-Caribbean students in the name of cultural integration.

He added: "Jade's mother says it will take six weeks to get her money's worth out of the braids. She is obviously more interested in getting her money's worth than her daughter's education."

But Mrs Fitzjohn, of Southsea, said: "The braids did cost £46 but that's irrelevant. All that matters is that my daughter is missing out on vital lessons because of a silly, discriminatory rule.

"I won't send her back unless she can wear the braids as she feels very strongly about this matter."

[cyborg]

I know more than you and it is not rude because IT IS TRUE. BUT I am not going to waste bandwith dispensing my advice because I sense you are a troll. You obviously took the time to dig up this thread but there are other threads where this issue has been discussed.

[SauronOfMordor]

Give it up, burlfire. You're telling black freepers they don't know about black hair.

SPeaking for myself, while I'm white, I HAVE had the opportunity to observe lots of black women, and most of the ones I see do not braid their hair, which indicates it's something other than a necessity

[burlfire]

my fiance is white, the majority of my friends are white, I have grown up around white people all my life, and was the only black person, from primary school through to secondary and one of very few black people in my area and at university, I am not making generalizations, you have still not even explained any of the care processes involved for afro hair, have you ever felt afro hair? because your comments are hilarious, my fiance is doubled over in laughter at your comment of "Someone will view their hair as 'difficult' only if they WANT it to be difficult."

[burlfire]

Typical turn to insults, so far you have not shown so much as an ounce of knowledge of afro hair, just made a lot of noise, with nothing to back it up.

[cyborg]

Goodie for you, if you are surrounded by so many white people then you know white hair care ain't so easy is it? I have about as much hair products as a lot of black girls i live around. Are you like the black people who think all white people have to do is run a bar of soap through their hair and everything is A-OK? I don't think so. You want a run down of afro hair care with you aren't getting out of me because I have neither the time nor the inclination.

[burlfire]

Can I ask where you live, not your specific address, but continent, and how many others you have been to? The black women you observed is their hair in its natural state, because most of the options for black hair most of the time is either braid/plait, weave-on or perm. I prefer not to perm as it damages and irritates my scalp

[cyborg]

LOL signed up today. Unreal. That must have been a mighty big rock they lifted after the DNC convention!

[SauronOfMordor]

Remind me not to *ever* piss you off.

I make it firm policy to always stay on Xenalyte's good side

[burlfire]

my fiance says he's white and all he has to do is shampoo and dry and he is ready to go, now your making presumptions about me, but I will say that white hair is easier to look after than afro hair

[cyborg]

Your fiance is a GUY. Guys can do that and get away with it. I'm talking about women. It isn't easier. And here's a shocker. White girls straighten their hair, white girls curl their hair. Yes even walk around with plastic bags on their heads deep conditioning their hair. There are women who can just dry their hair and not ever have to run a comb through it but how many people are like that? Not as many as you think. And guess what? You'll have kids and are you ready to handle all that hair? My mother sure wasn't!

[Dante3]

This is so absurd, such double standard. What about someone who is only one-tenth black? And what's wrong with having braids anyway?

[Tijeras_Slim]

I guess this is the wrong thread to complain about male pattern baldness. :)

Tell ol' Cleopatra Jones the newbie to put a sock in it.

[cyborg]

I love bald dudes :o)

[usadave]

...but there are people have digs, saying one rule for everyone exemption city if you are black.

Could you translate this into plain English?

[Tijeras_Slim]

I'm not bald, but I do have that "ozone hole" thing working.

The thing I don't get is the shaved head with the beard or goatee look lots of young guys are doing.

[cyborg]

Ozone hole??? LOL! You should shave it all off.

[Tijeras_Slim]

What, and have phrenologists chasing me down the street?

I will say death before comb-over tho'.

[burlfire]

Guess what I know white girls straighten their hair, curl their hair etc, the point I was making was to have afro hair in its natural state is much more difficult to cope with and you are left with very few options that won't damage your hair or irritate your scalp, you seem to have an idea that I am ignorant of white hair, it is tough on all women. I have 10 nieces and nephews and have looked after them for many years (you may even say I have brought them up, so I do know how difficult it is) I didn't say there were no difficulties in caring for white hair, but the texture makes it easier to care for. I plait or braid the hair of of white friends, how black peoples hair have you cared for, my point being that unless you perm afro hair, what other option is there, braid/plait or run around like a wild goat.

[Mark17]

I love bald dudes :o)

Fortunately, so does my Filipina, though it is thin, not bald.

[burlfire]

hey chill out everyone suffers from norm non fluency from time to time when they are writing but since you asked so nicely, what I meant was other people were have a go by making comments such as " one rule for everyone exemption city if you are black."