Outrage after high school bans Black teenager from own graduation for his long dreadlocks
- Deandre Arnold is a Black student of Barbers Hill High School in the United States
- The teenager was reportedly banned from participating in the school's graduation ceremony because of his long dreadlocks
- The school has said it has a ''dress code policy that prohibits any cornrow or any other method of wearing of the hair''
- Activities including Black Lives Matter have condemned and described the school's policy as discriminatory
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A recent development in a US school indicates that Deandre Arnold, a high school student of Barbers Hill High School is being discriminated against because of his choice of hair style.
The Barbers Hill High School located in Mont Belvieu, reportedly suspended him and banned him from taking part in his own graduation unless he cuts his locks to a shorter length.
Blacknews.com reports the school officials claim their decision is hinged on the back of the school’s long-standing policy of ''dress code policy that prohibits any cornrow or any other method of wearing of the hair.''
''Our policy limits the length. It’s been that way for 30 years,'' Superintendent Greg Poole is quoted to have told KHOU 11.
The development has triggered a response from activists who consider the school’s policy another case of racial discrimination.
Black Lives Matter activist, Ashton Wood, condemned the policy noting that ''the dress code is designed by white people for white people and is damaging to Black bodies.''
''This is a Black and white issue, Deandre (and) his family should not have to go through this. But I expect it from a board that has zero diversity,'' Gary Monroe, with the United Urban Alumni Association also said.
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A number of activists supported Deandre and his family in their discussion with the Barbers Hill school board, hoping to come to a favourable resolution.
They considered the rising matter as a trivial destruction to the teenager’s education will be experienced by others if it remains a policy.
Deandre Arnold’s mother, Sandy Arnold, also stated that the opposition to the school’s policy is more that just their son.
''It’s about more than that, this is about all the other Deandres that could come through Barbers Hill.''
Blacknews.com, affirms that Deandre’s family, together with their supporters, are getting set to take the case to federal court if the school wouldn’t come up with a resolution 48 hours after their meeting.
In other stories, YEN.com.gh reported that a 32-year-old heavily pregnant Ghanaian woman has been held in solitude for over four months in an Israeli prison after she refused to be tested for tuberculosis.
Josephine Kwabiwaa notes that she is agitated by the thought of taking the medical tests which include x-ray and a requirement for all African prisoners over fears that the radiation could affect her pregnancy.
Although details of why she has been jailed are not readily known, an Israeli online portal, Haaretz.com, writes that the Israeli Prison Service has for the past two weeks attempted to jet off Josephine to Ghana against her will.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
