new thread
http://www.sott.net/article/284684-Five-year-old-Navajo-boy-denied-admission-on-first-day-of-school-because-his-hair-is-too-long
This native American hair is beautiful, with a long braid.
My blog
Wow, what a story... I am glad they let him go to school,
but they never should have questioned it...
Thanks for posting... The Spaf Man
For quite a few years now, it seems like almost all of such cases arising out of public schools have been in Texas. In other states, discrimination against longhaired male students in public schools has either been outlawed, or no one is of a mind to practice such discrimination, and the issue doesn't come up anymore.
In the 1990s, we heard from cases in several states, so guys, that is progress!
It is also progress that the school is considering the student's other heritage. Some Texas schools not too long ago ignored such, and some may still. Having a longhair identity should be enough, of course, and looking for other elements of one's identity as an "excuse" does not afford us all the freedom from discrimination that others get.
Bill
Hi Bill,
If this crap keeps up I will have to get the heck out of Texas! I already feel funny living in such a red state! I need to get back out to Northern Cal where my Mom and sister live! This is truly a bunch of you know what. I sure hope this boy keeps his long hair until the day he dies! We should be respecting our American Indians. /end rant
Ted
This story reminds me from my old school days.
When I was 8, my father put me in a school that had some rules that was somewhat absurd and one of them was: Boys shouldn't wear medium or long hair and if you wanted to study in that school, you had to follow these rules. I was Tired of seeing boys in the majority with a shaved head because of these rules. 14 years after these rules have changed and oddly enough, I was passing in front of this school yesterday and I saw two boys with the waist length hair and I was kinda happy for seeing that the school is finally opening their minds for the "diversities".
In my opinion, I think long hair or short hair doesn't change the character of the person and putting on the rules that boys can't wear their hair as they want, long or not, it's just a sexist thing that should get rid of it, a lot of girls nowdays wear they hair like they want, even shaves their heads and nothing is said about this, but men that wears they hair long..., you get a lot of problems, not only from be bullied by the others kids, but can't get a job for the "Corporation Standards" and etc.
I've never been to Texas. But what is the problem with Texas? The vast majority of these types of stories happen in Texas. Since the state is so large, is it a particular part of the state that is like this?
I was surprised last year when this situation came up in Canton, Ohio. I had no idea it happened anywhere in Ohio.
As a teacher, I can't imagine a public school district getting away with such policy today. It is a policy that has absolutely no effect on education, safety, or behavior. Private schools can do whatever they want, but not public schools.
What does being Native American have to do with it? Not all Native American cultures wore long hair.
It amazes me that there are public school districts that would not hire an experienced, dedicated teacher like myself strictly due to the length of my hair. If anything, my long hair has helped me make more connections with my students.
Few long haired students' cases have made it to the high court of a state in recent years, likely because those who would press for discrimination know they would likely lose. Texas, though, was an exception. In recent years the Texas supreme court ruled opposite to what has been the legal trend in other states. That court ruled such discrimination by a public school is legal. Texas is a large state, and it has many school districts. Even if Texas only has a small percentage of nut-case school boards, this nevertheless will generate enough cases to pound the media with one case after another.
Texas was born out of a conflict between pre-Civil-War white Americans over values held by Mexico and the Americans they left behind. It was part of Mexico that split off when Mexico outlawed slavery, and then it later confronted the rest of America on the same issue. This left Texas with an independent spirit, and some values that date back two hundred years have not changed to keep up with the times. Mostly Texas is like the rest of the U.S. now, but quirky laws here and there at time emerge in the media to leave other Americans shaking their heads.
Bill
This is true. I just wanted to have and still want to have the room to grow my hair as long as I want, while keeping it kempt so as to be able to express my cultural identity. It seems that one finds oneself growing hair long as a Native, because it is one of the few things that we can still do to express Native values and culture. Personally, I would not choose to do a Mowhawk because I do not follow the Mowhawk people's Native Religion, I am an Orthodox Christian.
However, long hair for me is what the men in my Native Culture did do, so I want to express that. I have talked to the priest about this and he has told me and repeatedly told other people that it is part of culture and that there is no problem with it. I acknowledge as the only true God, the Holy Trinity, Who created all things and is still creating. So, for me, I am expressing my connectivity with my Native people and recognizing that the Holy Trinity is the source of the Earth, and everything in it. In that way I am not being pagan in what I am doing. Intent is what matters it would seem in this case.
I have something of a complicated identity and I am ok with it.
Thanks Anthony and Long Hair In Albany for posting these articles.
Most frustrating that hair discrimination continues regardless of whether someone is obviously native blooded or not.
Daniel
You're welcome.
We went through this in the 1960s. It's 2014 now and it's amazing that this is still going on. Especially in Texas where they yell and scream about freedom.
Thanks for posting this link... sad this is still happening..
----> The Spaf Man
The Daily Kos article says they make exceptions for "certain recognized religious or spiritual beliefs". There's a major constitutional problem with that. The freedom of religion requirement of the First Amendment requires that all religions be treated equally, and that no religion need be "recognized" to have the full rights that all other religions have.
Some countries only allow "recognized" religions, but that is not the case in the U.S. There cannot legally be such a thing.
Bill
Despite what the constitution says the US of A essentially has one (and only one) "recognized" religion.........christian.
The US of A has very little tolerance for other religions.
I found that out growing up in Wisconsin as one of the few
jewish kids where I lived. And now at the age of 60 I have to say the problem has gotten worse instead of better.
Articles like this sadden me. I know who my people are, and we know who we are, why do we need some piece of paper to tell the government that we know who we are?
The fact that this is still a problem is disgusting. When will the general public realize the attitudes about hair length on men is nothing more than sexism and sometimes racism? The administration of this school needs to be replaced.
I don't want to seem anti-American, but I did read about a legislative candidate in Arkansas, Charlie Fuqua, who wrote a book in which he says “rebellious children” should be executed. As this idea is so outrageous and close to Nazism, I give some links to substantiate what I say:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/08/charlie-fuqua-arkansas-candidate-death-penalty-rebellious-children_n_1948490.html
http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/brucewilson/ar-republican-charlie-fuqua-advocates-stoning-rebellious-children-deuteronomy
He's not talking about lethal injections or the electric chair, but stoning. Why not hanging, drawing and quartering or breaking on the wheel? This man, for crying out loud, isn't a cranky troll on the blogs but a mainstream politician.
I'm not surprised when I hear of them wanting to cut children's hair and continue racial discrimination. Fuqua is truly a scourge of Christianity!
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My blog
This goes back to the Puritans leaving England and parts of Europe because they wanted a much harsher religion that what they was experiencing in the Church of England. These same people committed many crimes against the native population when they got here. Some didn't even recognize the indigenous people as humans. Their tactics have changed over the past 300+ years, but their desire to bend everyone to their way of thinking or kill off those that rebel against them remains the same. They preach a religion of guilt to their followers and openly condemn and personally attack those that preach the religion of love and grace. I wish they would return to the land of their ancestors because quite frankly I'm tired of dealing with them.
And the fist step in this comes up very soon when various locations have their local elections for school committee, town meeting, town council, etc.
One of the reasons our schools are so screwed up is fundamentalist christians in Texas got them selves to the school committee and since Texas is the largest buyer of school text books the text books don't mention things like evolution. So the bottom line here is that school committee election you're going to ignore is very important. It will be decided by about 8-10 %
registered voters. And those 8-10 % of voters will be fundamentalist christians who will want to ban boys with long hair, the teaching science, the teaching of evolution, etc.
As far as this guy in Arkansas that you mention, the residents of Arkansas deserve him since they didn't bother to learn about the candidates, register to vote, and then vote. Maybe they should have considered picking up his book before the election. "Politics doesn't work, you have to work it." There are lots of scary candidates out there running for office, and by staying home on election day you're letting those motivated 8-10% of voters choose the winners.
There are alot of fundamentalist christians running for things like school committee but they hide the fact and you don't find out until it is much later and they've already been elected and sworn in. And they're free to do as they want.
Think about that when you consider skipping the next local election. Or better yet, consider running your self for local offices like school committee.
I do vote, but most of the time the choices are equally bad. Voting doesn't solve much when there are no candidates that represent our views. It usually comes down to choosing who will do the least damage rather than who will do the most good.
Maybe you should consider running for office.
When I was in the second grade (1967-68), in a public school, the teacher came to me and told me to tell my parents that I needed a haircut (it was just touching the top of the ears) and my brother and some of his friends who were in a band and had 'beatle' style haircuts would wet their hair and comb it back behind their ears in an effort to conceal the length. By sixth grade (1971 - 72) we were permitted to grow hair to around chin length and the bottom of the ear.