Black students say they are being penalized for their hair, and experts say every student is worse off because of it
High school senior Asia Simo loves being a cheerleader. In her final year, she even gave up soccer — another sport she played — to focus solely on what mattered to her the most: cheering.
But with just eight games left in this year’s season, the 17-year-old was suddenly kicked off the team after three years at Captain Shreve High School in Louisiana. The reason? Her hair, her family says, which was too thick for the “half up, half down” standard the team required for a number of games. Asia accumulated demerits for having her hair out of uniform, which led to her eventual dismissal, despite not being an issue in previous years, her mother Rosalind Calloway told CNN.
Asia’s story is part of a larger trend across the US, where more and more black students say they are being penalized for their hair.
The problem lies in the policies, experts say, which don’t necessarily take into account an increasingly diverse student body, to the detriment of mostly black and biracial schoolchildren.
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High school senior Asia Simo loves being a cheerleader. In her final year, she even gave up soccer — another sport she played — to focus solely on what mattered to her the most: cheering.
But with just eight games left in this year’s season, the 17-year-old was suddenly kicked off the team after three years at Captain Shreve High School in Louisiana. The reason? Her hair, her family says, which was too thick for the “half up, half down” standard the team required for a number of games. Asia accumulated demerits for having her hair out of uniform, which led to her eventual dismissal, despite not being an issue in previous years, her mother Rosalind Calloway told CNN.
Asia’s story is part of a larger trend across the US, where more and more black students say they are being penalized for their hair.
The problem lies in the policies, experts say, which don’t necessarily take into account an increasingly diverse student body, to the detriment of mostly black and biracial schoolchildren.