The school’s policy says “hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks and other faddish styles are unacceptable,” according to Tulsa’s FOX23. A school official told the television station that Tiana Parker’s father knew the rules.
Terrance Parker, a barber, said the school simply told him Tiana's dreadlocked hair didn't look presentable, according to the TV's station's report.
How very pre-1972.
Two things: Dreadlocks and afro are not fad hairstyles — unlike weaves and chemically straightened hair. They are natural hairstyles. And so what if they were fad hairstyles?
Let’s throw out the racial elements of this story for just one minute. Isn’t pretty much everything about a little kid potentially distracting?
These intellectually developing creatures often wear clown-like clothing, slobber on themselves and jump up and down.
But time and time again, school officials enforce policies on appearance that do not make a lick of sense.
Just a few months ago, Reid Elementary School kindergartner Ethan Clos had to have his mohawk shaved off because the Springfield Twp. school district found it distracting.
Cry me a river.
If a mohawk was the worse thing a district had to contend with, we’d all live in a better world.
Granted, it probably isn’t a good idea to send your kid to school in a rooster costume, but hair is hair and it is one of the most obvious ways to express personality.
Shouldn’t kids be encouraged to be individuals and not just drones?
That all said, the racial implications are pretty strong in Tiana’s case.
Black people spend millions of dollars to straighten and shape their hair until it is “socially acceptable” as non-natural as possible.
Although there are still stigmas, natural black hair is becoming more mainstream.
For evidence, look to all the natural hair care products on the market and being advertised.
Newly released research from Mintel, an industry research company, says relaxers (chemical straighteners) sales now account for just 21 percent of black haircare sales. That sector has declined 26 percent since 2008 and 15 percent since 2011, when sales reached $179 million.
Mintel estimates shampoos and conditioners specially formulated for black hair will reach $257 million in 2013, up from $211 million in 2008. The styling products segment increased from $220 million in 2008 to about $268 million in 2013, the company says.
In the last 12 months, 70 percent of black women told Mintel that they wear or have worn their hair natural.
I started wearing my hair natural nearly a year ago. That said, I would be hard-pressed to criticize anyone — black or otherwise — who elects to alter his or her hair.
I adhere to the “do you boo” philosophy unless you are hurting anyone else.
Deborah Brown Community School is definitely hurting others.
Tiana Parker cried on camera when interviewed about the school’s policy.
“I think that they should let me have my dreads,” the straight-A student said.
Instead of teaching the little girl and her classmates that people come in different boxes, the school taught a lesson about shame.
Tiana, according to the school’s antiquated position, should be ashamed of the hair that grows from her head.
It is bad and, according to the school, she is ugly the way God made her.
Contact this columnist at arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com or Twitter.com/DDNSmartMouth
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