Vanessa Vandyke, a 12-year-old girl living in Orlando,
Florida has made the news this week. After beginning to wear her hair naturally,
kids at her school began to make fun of her hairstyle. Vanessa went to the
school’s principal to complain about the teasing. Instead of disciplining the
bullies at her school, the authorities have threatened Vanessa with expulsion.
Specifically, the school’s rulebook states “hair must be a natural color and
must not be a distraction for example: mohawks, shaved signs, rat tails etc.” Because
Vanessa’s hair is COMPLETELY NATURAL it seems that the school is claiming that
her NATURAL APPEARNCE IS DISTRACTING. The school’s response is wrong on so many
different levels. First, threatening Vanessa with expulsion is victim blaming.
Rather than placing responsibility on the bullies, the school is punishing
Vanessa for the actions of her peers. The school needs to reprimand the students
bullying Vanessa so that her beautiful head of hair may walk down the halls
without being burdened by the plebeians’ thoughts. This issue is also implicit
of a much larger issue in our society. The natural appearance of any human
should never be labeled as “distracting”. Especially in the professional world,
people who do not have straight hair are often seen as unprofessional, particularly
African Americans. Many feel the same pressures as Vanessa to straighten their
hair for fear of unemployment. Policing someone’s natural appearance is the
dumbest thing ever. Honestly, I hope that Vanessa continues her fight so that
the Supreme Court has an opportunity to make an example of this embarrassment
of an institution by smacking them down with the fist of justice.
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/11/little-girl-faces-expulsion-natural-hair/
Observation: As I was reading the article about Vanessa
Vandyke my eyeballs melted out of my skull because they were so disgusted with the fact that anyone would ever want her to change her beautiful hair. Time for a couple of beers and a banana nut muffin.
Comment #2 (Blog 13): I don't understand it. This must be due to the community and environment, because now-a-days to bully someone about hair is truly stupid. You would think that the school would do a better job socializing everyone, but obviously there is a problem with the staff and students. I find it hard to believe, because in my schools, I never saw or experienced bullying or discrimination against my race. That is not to say that it never happened, but for the most part, students are willing to speak up and defend individuals when something like this happens. Thank you for sharing, btw, your observation made me laugh!
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