Louisiana school hits Rastafarian teen with ‘unlimited suspension’ over his dreadlocks

I hear you, man.

Believe me, I do.

But I think you underestimate the spirit you're afraid of being whittled away at by legal cowardice and social avarice. And I understand it.

To acknowledge the gains every American has made socially in the past one hundred years or so is to acknowledge where the country was.

You're right. There's no one thing that ruins a person's outlook or perspective. And an incessant encroaching does its own damage to the psyche, whether real or imagined.

But this is what I believe, and why I believe it:

My mother's spirit wasn't broken...or at least, I never saw it. If she had any pain or guilt or remorse or shame at what ravages those "thousand blows a day" did to her mind and body in the 1940's, 1950's and 1960s, she never showed it to me or my brothers.

I can't imagine the more literal "thousand blows a day" reference being more applicable than the one hundred years or so before then, where minds and bodies really WERE destroyed.

Thousands of lives were wasted and lost, for selfish and silly reasons. And each life had a value and worth that shouldn't ever be ignored or downplayed.
And it certainly seems that we are poised to try to relive all of that again...just because, in some instances.

But look at your examples…the soldier with the 12-year service record in the Navy for one (a case I followed a bit for awhile, myself)…I got a boatload of stories of friends of mine who couldn’t get better jobs because they couldn’t shave their faces (skin problems), while they’d see white folk with all kinds of acne walk in behind them and not get looked at twice.

My point in all this is that there’s NEVER going to be any type of behavioral conformity that satisfies a closed, bigoted or racist mindset. The goal posts move so much in those games, those people can’t even remember how to keep score themselves anymore. So there’s no need to think that somehow, doing “what’s right” has some kind of edifying effect on any kind of racist or bigoted perception.

Nobody’s asking anybody to chase down ”massa” and get his approval, Rocket River. At least, I hope I’m not giving anybody that impression, and I can see from what I’ve said earlier where that could easily be gleaned. I used to get a lot of that when I was a school kid, incidentally. Being smart or articulate was “acting white”… especially in a poor neighborhood…and I got into enough fights to tell you that that was a big mistake to make with me, too…

Right there…”acting white” or “making yourself small so other people are comfortable”…THAT mindset is a problem. And admittedly, the ultimate consequence of absorbing those “thousand blows a day” you mentioned.

I don’t see obeying laws (and subsequently exposing the hypocrisy in their enforcement and implementation, like the Navy soldier, or even the little Rastafarian boy) as cow-towing to white people, or sacrificing religious principle. If anything, it confirms what my mother, in her frank wisdom, said to me often:

“…Boy, some things is always right. And some things is always wrong. Many a ****** been run out his good sense thinkin’ white folk is right and if he chase after him, he gonna like him. That sense you got…you ain’t got it from nobody white…or nobody black…so don’t use it like you owe it to either one of ‘em. Right takes care of right. You see that, if you live long enough...”

I don’t get any moral compass from white people who are too ignorant to be anything but afraid of me, or black people who are too stupid to know the difference between fighting a battle and winning a war.

We can’t be relegated to the peanut gallery or left out on the fringe to shout our disapproval of public policies and wonder why our point of view isn’t respected, or even honestly acknowledged, Rocket River. I know where you’re coming from, trust me. There’s only so many times you can offer your hand in friendship and peace and get slapped in the face for it before you reach your limit.

No justice, no peace. Right.

I guess maybe I just haven’t reached mine yet, my friend.

 

This makes perfect sense if you're a professional samurai.

 

I forgot to mention I am.
Here is some video of me at work.

Spoiler

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The Acting or Talking white phenom - cannot say I see much of this nowadays
been there . .. done that . . . . . imo overblown childishness

I guess I tired for the calls for patience and waiting
and do this for now and then later they will acknowledge our humanity.

I have reach a point of impatience
I think I am at my limit
because their brutality and unfairness seems to not have a limit.

Rocket River

 

Hang in there, man.

I'm reminded of a cute line I read somewhere (knowing me, it's probably in a comic book someplace):

"There are greater things in this being than the sustenance of air. I, in this or any endeavor upon which righteousness is called, shan't prize my own life above my honor.

...unless you think it's a good idea?..."

 

in the interest of full disclosure. . . i do wear dreds
and it is not for religious reasons

Rocket River

 

And you aren't obligated...at all...to agree totally.
See how easy that was?

Just curious...what exactly don't you agree with? I presume to think I might have an idea...I'm a little familiar with your Christian position...

..and I'm in a talking mood for once...

 

Where is your proof that the girl next to him has blue hair??

They may have a very strict dress code overall.

Making things up so you can continue complaining about what very well may not be a racial issue?

People jumping to conclusions just like in the Michael Brown case.

 

The Yankees have a no facial hair policy.

They must be racist to Sikhs.

 

And as another disclaimer T.Mcgrady (LOVE that username!),

I'm not at all opposed to being upbraided by someone with a very good counter-argument.

Your post does what I would hope would happen in anyone reviewing this case:

1. who are the people making and enforcing these laws? and
2. in the meantime, how is the child not punished while the adults get their act together?

Myself, as this kid's parent, I'd find some way to get him into school. Not at all an easy proposition, especially if this family is too poor to move to a more welcoming school environment. But to me that's the thing to do.

I didn't see a compromise offered by the school administration in the article...and I haven't suggested anywhere that I thought having the child's hair cut was an acceptable concession, whether he could prove he was legitimately devoted to his faith or not.

And it isn't whether "belief" in a religion is logical or not, to me. My mother, for instance, felt that both religion and logic ran parallel to my development. Both ideas had their place...that those ideals could co-exist and not necessarily overlap or impede the other.

The institution (here, public education) isn't the problem...it is merely the vehicle within which prejudice and ignorance are given a smarmy veneer of legitimacy by those who make the decisions and enforce the rules.

As torocan posted (and has posted on more than one or three hundred thousand occasions), there's nothing in the written in the Constitution these "...American patriots...", who's God-given mission it is to "...defend the Constitution..." , that upholds their insidious behavior.

The state constitution, however, is probably worse.

The worst thing that could happen is for this kid to get left out, by well-meaning people who want to win a fight for him he can't even help fight (by being what he has been by some reports--not disruptive and seemingly willing to be there in school and do his best) on one hand...

...and the obviously contemptuous individuals who'd like nothing better than to "...secure the border..." and keep this invader out.

Kids are amazingly tractable. If this boy were to spend time in a classroom (heaven forbid) and people get to know him, and then get to know his family...
...if the kid is bright and energetic and hopeful...a good student and maybe even a good person down the line...

...you bring the whole damned thing down around the ears of the people who stood it up in front of you as an obstacle in the first place, and reveal it for the devious stunt it is.

You win hearts and minds by controlling the sensory input. Remove the freak kid with the long natty pot-head dreadlocks from normal everyday life...

...keep him out on the fringes because of his "Rastafarianism" (which the family hasn't had a problem making some exceptions for in order to get the boy in school, apparently)...

...and you can bring up a whole lot of like-minded individuals who think just like you, because they didn't learn any better.

That's the thing. In no way, shape or form, is what this school administration doing legal or moral. But if the boy hadn't been there in the first place, nobody would have seen how far some people are willing to go to promote a lie.

I don't think it's about "prioritizing" religion over education, either, T.Mcgrady. I think if not for my mother's faith (and admittedly, my own), I don't persevere in the conditions I had and get through school...not because I thumped bibles in front of the school or whined about how much prayer time I needed or whose religious commandments needed to be taught as world history.

Christian theology suggests (and some other beliefs as well) that the natural condition of man comments on the spiritual condition...not the other way around like some of the more zealous Christian fundamentalists proffer, for instance. Look at how these administrators are behaving and it tells you what's really important to them.

But all that is, at least right now, incidental to the ultimate narrative...and that is the one of the boy's educational development.

The family has made the societal conforming gesture of enrolling the boy in school and I'm sure, if they are devout Rastafarians, impressed on him the need to conduct himself respectfully. He wouldn't be there if that wasn't the case.

And that's why he needs to be in school. In public. Where this can be seen and not ignored. Where we do have, now more than ever in this country, at least a willingness to be open-ended and candid about what this is and what it's about, and address it.

And hopefully, prayerfully...fix it.

 

White man take all haircut freedoms. Except Alabama swoosh.

 

How hard is it to respect others' cultures? Sorry but this guy's religious hair-do >>> any institution's random "rules" and stuff.

 

No, I mean Seinfeld. It was a joke.

 

It's about protecting other kids from bugs and fleas & lice...

 

That's a crock. If hygiene was really an issue, regulations regarding hair length would be standard in schools for both sexes. However, it's not. They don't force girls to cut their hair, only the boys.

Think about that.

They wanted to enforce an "image", and in the case of the rastafarian, conformity is more important to them than religious freedom.

 

Why do Christians insist on taking the Saturn out of Saturnalia?

 

I tend to prefer deities who sacrifice themselves for humanity instead of the other way around, but I'm a bit biased. :grin:

 

Dreads can form naturally. It's usually only black Americans (or others) who use wax or gel to form dreads because their hair is not as thick as people from Jamaica, Africa, Haiti so it takes longer for the locks to form _ the wax supposedly accelerates the process...

Rastafari usually just don't comb their hair, wash it and keep it clean, and twist it which is the natural way to form dreadlocks and many other people do it that way as well.

 

Who...??? You mean the Jewish guy...

You mean the same Christians that gave Jesus white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes...???
They can do what they want.

 

there IS NO legitimate Rastafarian Church in the United States. not as a religious institution, anyway... there is no donation base. they are not recognized as a religious charity, etc...

Rasta is a lifestyle and the church is their body.

so any letter from 1st Church of Rastafar I in Plaquemines Parish is coming from a neighborhood elder from the local social Rasta club, where they get together, worship Jah, and talk philosophy.

my original post was tongue in cheek, playing as Devil's Advocate.

if I say I am rasta do I have to follow local or federal laws regarding mar1juana use in school, employment, etc?