The Hair I Wear, The Skin I’m In: This
Is Me. Please, Let Me Be.
Earlier this summer, students at the Pretoria High School
for Girls clustered outside of their school’s towering gates to protest the
school’s code of conduct that placed
stringent limits on the ways in which the girls could wear their natural hair.
Several
students reporting being ordered by school staff members to “fix” their hair. The recommended fixes—chemical
straighteners and hot combs—were embarrassing and degrading to the African girls
who perceived the school’s code of conduct as an obstruction of their cultural expression and identity. In an interview with NPR, Tiisetso Phetla, a recent graduate of the
school, recounted how girls could be removed from class or excluded from
assemblies as punishment for wearing their hair in an afro, “It was very difficult
because they tell you that either you look barbaric or… to remove that nest off
your head.”
Founded
in 1902, the Pretoria High School for Girls, was an all-white school under apartheid,
admitting its “first black, non-diplomatic pupils” in 1991. Phetla laments, “So you'd always be on the
short end of the stick as a black child in the school or a mixed-race child
because you were never included in the blueprint of the school when it
started.” When girls at the school
grew frustrated with the school’s attempt to dictate their hair in addition to
discouraging them from speaking their native African languages, students began
staging protests. The
protests quickly went viral, sparking a national debate about the subtle and
unsubtle ways that blacks are forced to conform to white culture.
After
thousands signed an online petition supporting the Pretoria students, the head
of the province’s education department organized meetings with students,
parents and staff to address the students’ concerns. Soon after, the department
ordered the suspension of the school’s controversial hairstyle code of conduct
clause.
A Model For Baltimore City
and County Schools
Multiple
studies have shown the effectiveness of diversity on decreasing the achievement
gap between minority and white student groups. However, integration is challenging
and for schools strategizing new ways to compensate for increased minority
enrollment, dialogue has proven to be a powerful tool for exploration and
reconciliation.
Schools
like Digital Harbor High in Baltimore City is one example of how thoughtful
dialogue can be used as an vulnerary instrument in schools where shifting
demographics lead to racial tensions. In 2014, the school’s growing Latino
immigrant population faced ongoing conflict with the school’s dominant African
American population. The mounting tension exploded into a weeklong procession
of violence that culminated with the death of a student.
The
following year, the school,
along with a local Latino group called CASA de
Maryland, started a program called SPIRIT to bring students together
to find common ground, embrace their differences, and get to know each other.
The group opens with an icebreaker before students begin answering questions
about themselves that lead to honest dialogue about the students’ unique
experiences and their perspectives on the challenges they face. So far, SPIRIT
appears to be working and Digital Harbor High hopes to expand the model to
other schools.
Final Thought
For those of us
who champion integration and believe in its efficacy, we must also champion
dialogue. When minority student groups enter schools with fixed cultures,
rules, and social norms, there must be a safe space for those students to meet
with their peers as well as stakeholders to raise their voices, questions, and
concerns. Integration cannot be oversimplified and race relations cannot be
overlooked. When a school’s demographics begin to shift, so should the school’s
resources and staff, and ostensibly, so should its rules and policies.
From South Africa
to Baltimore, Maryland, the effect of open dialogue between students, parents,
and administrators is understanding, compromise and reconciliation. If
Baltimore hopes to become a successful center of education, it must not look
past integration and it must not neglect the dialogue that needs to accompany
it. We must act before the protests erupt, before the violence catalyzes,
before the lives are lost to create a culture of inclusion in our schools.
Sources:
https://awethu.amandla.mobi/petitions/stop-racism-at-pretoria-girls-high?source=twitter-share-button
1 comment:
There was a big controversy over some similar no natural hair policies developed at Butler High in Louisville Kentucky this year, just last month.
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/high-schools-natural-hair-ban-sparks-national-debate-42104581
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