New rule — straight hair and high-pony tails are now prohibited at some schools.
I’m kidding, but why do we allow those, yet ban afros and dreadlocks?
School administrators constantly tell black children in schools their hair doesn’t meet school requirements. They have to chemically treat it, which damages their hair, to fit the school’s dress code. Hair, for many children, is part of their identity.
Several weeks ago, seventh-grader Isaiah Freeman left West End Christian School in Hopewell, Virginia, after administrators told him that his hair wasn’t up to par. The length of his dreadlocks were suddenly against the school’s handbook, even though Freeman’s hair remained the same length since he was in third grade.
This is a case of the school “not being culturally aware,” said Isaiah’s father, Shawn Freeman.
“It’s an issue of people feeling uncomfortable with a young, black male having dreadlocks and having a certain persona of negativity,” he said.
Shawn made the right choice by taking Isaiah out of the school and looking for one where his culture would be accepted. Yes, his son’s haircut may have been against school rules, but withdrawing him taught Isaiah a valuable lesson.
You do not have to conform for anyone. Your hair is your culture, which cannot be compromised.
The stories of blacks’ hair not meeting certain standards of schools and professions are endless.
However, school administrations’ tendencies to ignore the cultural importance in hair for black children is more depressing than when a business does it.
According to University of Michigan professor of psychology, education and women’s studies Jacquelynne Eccles, the middle childhood stage is extremely important for mental growth. That childhood stage is so important that she wrote a journal on it: “The Development of Children Ages 6 to 14.”
“Middle childhood gives children the opportunity to develop competencies, interests and a healthy sense of confidence, so that they can master and control their worlds,” Eccles said in her journal.
Telling black children their hair doesn’t meet regulations at such an age can ruin the confidence they are building and hurt the identify they are forming.
Vanessa VanDyke, a teenager from Orlando, Florida, faced conflict because of her afro in 2013 when she was only 12 years old. She attended Faith Christian Academy, and the administrators said her afro was a distraction to students, and she had a week to cut and shape it.
“First of all, it’s puffy, and I like it that way,” VanDyke said. “I know people will tease me about it because it’s not straight. I don’t fit in.”
Black hair always seems to be “distracting.”
Want to know what’s distracting? Sitting in my college courses seeing messy-buns and straight hair in every direction.
How am I expected to take notes when that’s all I see.
The more society tries to conform black culture, the more the racial divide widens.
Not only will the racial divide grow, but black children will grow resentful.
They’re told their dreadlocks, braids and afros aren’t standard and are against regulations. Meanwhile, celebrities such as Katy Perry and Kylie Jenner are rocking the cornrows, and Lady Gaga is wearing dreads.
Can you say cultural appropriation? And yes, there is a difference between appropriation and appreciation.
You’re not giving props to the black community for the hairstyles they can’t even wear.
Think about the fact that white celebrities wear black hairstyles that black children themselves aren’t allowed to wear.
Think about the effect that has on black children’s self esteem. It screams white privilege.
Accepting black culture in its entirety is another barrier Americans must cross if you want any chance at narrowing the racial divide.
Clarke Perkins is a 20-year-old political science sophomore from New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Dan Steinberg

Whoopi Goldberg arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP)