Black Lives Matter-Ugliness of Racism.

spaminator · Oct 1, 2024

Black man claims trucking company fired him because he wouldn't cut dreadlocks
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Heather Hollingsworth
Published Sep 30, 2024 • 1 minute read

A Black man alleges in a lawsuit that an Iowa trucking company fired him as a driver because he wouldn't cut off his dreadlocks, the latest in a series of incidents across the country over an issue activists have dubbed hair discrimination.
A Black man alleges in a lawsuit that an Iowa trucking company fired him as a driver because he wouldn't cut off his dreadlocks, the latest in a series of incidents across the country over an issue activists have dubbed hair discrimination.
A Black man alleges in a lawsuit that an Iowa trucking company fired him as a driver because he wouldn’t cut off his dreadlocks, the latest in a series of incidents across the country over an issue activists have dubbed hair discrimination.

Drew Harvey, 26, of Crete, Illinois, accused Des Moines-based TMC Transportation of racism in the lawsuit filed last week in state court against the company and two of its employees. The company didn’t immediately respond Monday to phone and email messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Similar issues have arisen in places like Texas, where a Black high school student was suspended because of his dreadlocks. And in Kansas, the American Civil Liberties Union raised concerns over a grade school forcing an 8-year-old Native American boy to cut off his hair after he grew it out for cultural reasons.

In Iowa, Harvey was hired as a flatbed truck driver in June. But one day after beginning orientation, his instructor told him to report to human resources, where he was told his hair was creating a “safety issue” and that he needed to cut his deadlocks or be fired, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, Harvey said his hair was “important to his culture and spirituality” and he offered to address the concerns by trimming his hair, styling it differently, wearing it in a hair wrap or purchasing a different hard hat.

But the lawsuit said the company told him the proposals weren’t acceptable. Fired, he was sent home on a bus in tears, the lawsuit said.

The suit said the policy was inconsistently enforced and a violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Harvey said that during his short time with the company, he observed several non-Black male and female workers who had long hair. The suit said he was even more upset when he learned online that TMC previously fired another Black man for the same reason.

Harvey is seeking unspecified damages for lost wages and emotional distress.

Black man claims trucking company fired him because he wouldn't cut dreadlocks

A Black man alleges in a lawsuit that an Iowa trucking company fired him as a driver because he wouldn't cut off his dreadlocks.

torontosun.com

spaminator · Saturday at 8:46 PM

Judge denies order sought by Black student punished over hair
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Juan A. Lozano
Published Oct 04, 2024 • 2 minute read
A federal judge on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024 denied a request by Darryl George, a Black high school student in Texas for a court order that the student’s lawyers say would have allowed him to return to his high school without fear of having his previous punishment over his hairstyle resume.
A federal judge on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024 denied a request by Darryl George, a Black high school student in Texas for a court order that the student’s lawyers say would have allowed him to return to his high school without fear of having his previous punishment over his hairstyle resume.
HOUSTON — A federal judge on Friday denied a request by a Black high school student in Texas for a court order that the student’s lawyers say would have allowed him to return to his high school without fear of having his previous punishment over his hairstyle resume.

Darryl George had sought to reenroll at his Houston-area high school in the Barbers Hill school district after leaving at the start of his senior year in August because district officials were set to continue punishing him for not cutting his hair. George had spent nearly all of his junior year serving in-school suspension over his hairstyle.

The district has argued that George’s long hair, which he wears to school in tied and twisted locs on top of his head, violates its policy because if let down, it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes.

George, 19, had asked U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown in Galveston to issue a temporary restraining order that would have prevented district officials from further punishing him if he returned and while a federal lawsuit he filed proceeds.

But in a ruling issued late Friday afternoon, Brown denied George’s request, saying the student and his lawyers had waited too long to ask for the order.

George’s request had come after Brown in August dismissed most of the claims the student and his mother had filed in their federal lawsuit alleging school district officials committed racial and gender discrimination when they punished him.

The judge only let the gender discrimination claim stand.

In his ruling, Brown said he also denied George’s request for a temporary restraining order because the school district was more likely to prevail in the lawsuit’s remaining claim.

Brown’s ruling was coincidentally issued on George’s birthday. He turned 19 years old on Friday.

Allie Booker, an attorney for George, and a spokesperson for the Barbers Hill school district did not immediately return a call or email seeking comment.

George’s lawyer had said the student left Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu and transferred to another high school in a different Houston area district after suffering a nervous breakdown over the thought of facing another year of punishment.

In court documents filed this week, attorneys for the school district said George didn’t have legal standing to request the restraining order because he is no longer a student in the district.

The district has defended its dress code, which says its policies for students are meant to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”

George’s federal lawsuit also alleged that his punishment violates the CROWN Act, a recent state law prohibiting race-based discrimination of hair. The CROWN Act, which was being discussed before the dispute over George’s hair and which took effect in September 2023, bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots.

In February, a state judge ruled in a lawsuit filed by the school district that its punishment does not violate the CROWN Act.

Judge denies order sought by Black student punished over hair

A federal judge on Friday denied a request by a Black high school student in Texas.