Native American child banned from kindergarten

Since when do schools dictate hair length? And for 5 year olds?

Racialicious (original post at Shameless)
5 year old Adriel Arocha is being banned from his Houston-area kindergarten class. Why, you ask?

As an Apache, he has long hair that he has been growing in his Native cultural tradition that "violates" this school's dress code rules.

The kicker though is that the school board is willing to make exceptions on religious or other "proven" moral grounds, but doesn't think that being Native American cuts it.

Yee points out that growing your hair is a tradition in many Indigenous cultures: "Long hair carries our life experiences and reminds us about the teachings we've received along the way."

But apparently that's not good enough for Superintendent Curtis Rhodes, who says, "I was trying to find out what recognized religion they are that discusses they cannot cut their hair and the information I received then was basically it's their choice."

What the hell. I know plenty of mothers who would cut a bitch before cutting their son's hair...and those are kracker-white-ass folks without a reason as founded as cultural tradition (unless being a red-neck counts).

This superintendent sounds like a real jack-ass. Sure "Native American" is used as more of an ethinic/racial identity than a religious one, but obviously they hold their own set of spiritual beliefs--that doesn't mean they have to have an organized church or label to prove so.

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