Black Texas teen Darryl George is ready for CROWN Act trial
A Texas judge will decide if Barbers Hill High School can continue punishing Darryl George for wearing his hair in long dreadlocks. His family says the punishment violates the CROWN Act.
A judge will hear arguments on Thursday about whether a Texas school district can continue punishing a Black teen for refusing to change his hairstyle.
Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles from Houston, has been in in-school suspension or at an off-site disciplinary program for most of the school year. School officials said in August that George’s hair — which he wears in dreadlocks twisted neatly on top of his head, away from his face and neck — violates a district dress code regulating the length of boys’ hair. According to the student handbook, male students’ hair cannot extend past the eyebrows or ear lobes.
George has received letters and messages from people encouraging him and supporting his decision to not cut his hair, the family’s attorney, Allie Booker, said. The 18-year-old has said the support has made all the difference amid the headline-making controversy.
“I just want them to know that I hear them and appreciate everything and I’ma keep fighting,” he told Booker in a text message shared with NBC News. “This fight has been a struggle on me, but with their words, it keeps me pushing.”
George’s family says his punishment violates the state’s newly implemented CROWN Act. The district filed a lawsuit in September, requesting that a judge clarify whether that’s the case. Last month, State District Judge Chap Cain III in Anahuac ordered the case to go to trial, which is slated for Thursday.
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