Dear Editor,
As a former teacher I always speak up about both global and local issues with differing responses. In some cases, people will support my messages, in others, people are indifferent. Such indifference oftentimes comes from a position of privilege – “I am not affected by the injustice, so why should I put effort into changing it?” And the status quo remains.
I would want to raise an issue that should, however, concern all of us. And luckily, many are already raising the issue. Our children have been and continue to be subjected to daily discrimination and racism. Not necessarily by people but by institutions. The focus of this letter is to shed more light on hair discrimination rules in schools on St. Maarten.
A few days ago, a friend of mine shared her experience when she took her son to the barber; her son was clearly upset and was crying when he had his beautiful curls cut off. It is a reoccurring event that many parents and their young children have to go through every few weeks. Yet, the school rules are clear. Boys need to adhere to the pre-set school rules that as a boy, your hair cannot exceed the length of 2 inch.
One could argue that this is just a kid that cries and there are many things kids cry for like cleaning their room or doing their homework. However, I believe the hair policies touch on something much more fundamental. They touch on children’s sense of self. They tell our children they are not good enough as they are or how they identify themselves by imposing a breach on their physical integrity. Thus, criminalizing young children’s hair. It is very different from cleaning your room, which focusses on hygiene and creating order or doing your homework that ensures that skills such as reading and writing stick.
Schoolboards – and from personal experience I know the Catholic school board in particular – pride themselves that these rules (hair discrimination) are for discipline and to not create distraction within the classroom. These arguments hold no value because these claims are not backed up with evidence-based research. Something that should be important for a schoolboard if you profile yourself as a knowledge institute. In fact, scientific research into hair policies has shown that such policies are often more damaging than doing any good to the student population subjected to them. Eventually it leads to low self-esteem which then negatively impacts the child’s learning abilities.
The origin of these hair rules come directly from our colonial past where enslaved people from African descent “had to be tamed” by their white owners. Forcing hair into submission was a symbolic reinforcement of the master-slave relationship, where total submission was expected. To this day, hair policies also affect boys and girls from African descent more than their Caucasian or (South) Asian classmates and neatness is racialized in the execution of the hair policies.
Discussing about what is perceived as ‘neat’ can be argued in great lengths because there is no objective definition of what can be viewed as neat; it’s like beauty: it all depends on the eye of the beholder. Yet, schoolboards seem to be steadfast in their stubbornness and teachers have to send humiliating letters to parents and argue with young schoolchildren that their hair cannot be too long. Not a teacher’s task, I would say.
What will it take for these schoolboards to enter the 21st century?
While many surrounding islands and countries in the Caribbean have come to the realization that this mental slavery needs to be dealt with, St. Maarten is somehow lagging behind. We need to fight for change harder and need to be willing to enter into uncomfortable confrontations. Something that seems foreign to a small “friendly” island like St. Maarten. I would like to appeal to the morality of the people of St. Maarten; if we are not willing to show social discontent, nothing will change. We have to make it everyone’s business to speak up against injustice.
Maybe the unjust, racist history behind the hair policies is not reason enough for you to stand against the continued injustice. Then, let’s see what hair policies do to our children. As I said earlier, our children are being told that they are not good enough and that their personal sense of identity is not important. The fact that hair policies are almost always racialized also results in separation within the classroom. It is in school where the foundations of our children’s future life are laid. Do we want these foundations to be racist and discriminatory? Or do we want to develop strong individuals, who care for each other as persons, rather than focus on assimilating to fit in the box? Should we not create safe spaces where (cultural) diversity can be celebrated and where there is also a foundation to feel united in a collective?
Moreover, hair policies do not stop at the school gate. Unlike a uniform, you cannot simply grow your hair for the rest of the day, and have it short the next morning for school. The rules are therefore also a violation of the bodily integrity of our young! How did we allow this to happen? Have we become so disconnected from the way things work on the island that we stop resisting even the straightest form of racism? Even if it’s for our own kids? And no, “black faces in high places are not going to save us.” Meaning that sometimes racist rules might be reinforced by the same people that should know better.
Schoolboards unfortunately do not listen to any of these arguments. DEI recently became a dirty term in the USA – for these schoolboards it was seemingly already the case. Complaints have fallen on deaf ears, for decades now. One school even lost a court case in 2016 for expelling a child for wearing his hair in locks. The ruling unfortunately also showed the limitations of the local legislation as it did not, in principle, condemn the hair policy practices by the Catholic school board. Special Education (such as the religious schools) have the freedom to organize their own school policies according to their wishes. But to what extent? And is it worth degrading young children for? Instead of deconstructing these discriminatory hair rules, parents are forced to sign a document during enrolment of their child that they agree with school rules, reminding them once more not to dare speak up about these controversial hair rules. Who is the master and who is the slave?
It is time for change and the schools should learn rules are not written in stone. Rules change all the time! Luckily, the issue is brought forward more and more, and not by just a small group of people. Recently, a brave mother started a petition to ban discriminatory hair rules in all St. Maarten schools. The petition received more than 1,000 signatures. Parents joined forces and organized themselves with an eponymous Facebook page called “Abolish Hairstyle Rules in Sint Maarten’s Schools”.
The youth is mobilizing as well and last year, Teen Times shared a draft legislation to MP Roseburg. Parliament discussed the issue and unanimously supported the cause. Also last year, a hair festival was organized to celebrate diversity in hair culture and to address the discriminatory hair practices in schools and the workplace called “Hair Stories” at University of St. Maarten. Minister of Education Melissa Gumbs has also committed to address the issue and to work on changes in the law and policies.
Seeing all these initiatives, why are schoolboards not developing along? Do we really need to take them to court to get justice? Is this something we want? Ideally not, as you would want change to come from an intrinsic motivation. Though many people want to stop these hair restrictions, we need more people to join forces and speak publicly about how this idea of taming children’s hair should be reduced to a harmful practice from the past. Make it your business to speak up about injustice!
Humera Alam
