Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, are facing a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Darryl George, a 17-year-old high school student, and his mother. The lawsuit alleges that Abbott and Paxton failed to enforce Texas’s CROWN Act, a law that protects against hair discrimination.
George, a student at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, has been suspended for over three weeks because school officials claim that his locs hairstyle violates the school district’s dress code for male students. Although the policy does not explicitly ban locs or braids, it restricts hair length for male students, stating that hair should not extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, eyebrows, or ear lobes.
The lawsuit argues that George’s suspension is a violation of the CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination against hair texture and protective hairstyles associated with race. It further alleges that Abbott and Paxton have failed to enforce the law, which came into effect on September 1. The plaintiffs seek an injunction against the Governor and the attorney general to prevent disciplinary punishment and measures against students with locs or other protective styles longer than the district’s length requirement.
CNN reached out to Abbott, Paxton, and the attorneys for the Barbers Hill Independent School District for comment on the lawsuit. This legal action comes shortly after the district requested clarification from a Texas court regarding the compatibility of their dress code with the CROWN Act. Superintendent Greg Poole stated that they believe the new law does not govern hair length but seek interpretation from the judicial system.
This is not the first time the Barbers Hill Independent School District has faced legal action regarding its hair policy’s impact on Black students with locs. In 2020, another family sued the district, claiming racial discrimination and violation of their children’s constitutional rights. The students were asked to cut their locs to comply with the district’s hair length policy, and one student even transferred to another school district instead of compromising his hairstyle. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction against the district’s enforcement of the hair-length policy in that case, which is still ongoing.
The CROWN Act was signed by Governor Abbott in May and aims to prevent hair discrimination in the state. It received significant support from affected individuals, such as Arnold, who described the law’s passage as a validating feeling and a win against future discriminatory acts in Texas. The CROWN Act has been enacted in around two dozen states, with California being the first to pass such legislation in 2019. However, a national CROWN Act has not been successfully implemented.