Apparently being an African American young lady with natural hair will get you kicked out of some schools for being a ?distraction.? This is exactly what happened to 12-year-old Vanessa VanDyke , who was originally ?given the ultimatum to cut her hair or leave the school after she reported bullying to administration at Orlando’s Faith Christian Academy.
Sabrina Kent, Vanessa’s mother, reported the bullying in hopes that her daughter could attend school without worrying about other kids, but found that the administrators immediately turned on Vanessa, claiming her hair violated school dress code.
Vanessa’s hair style is far from what is described in the school code, who gave examples of distractive hair as Mohawks, rat tails, and shaved designs. The code even states that hair must be natural in nature, something that can definitely describe Vanessa’s hair.
In this situation, however, the school seemed to twist the school code in a way that protects the bullies and puts blame on the victim. Speaking to Click Orlando about her hair, Vanessa states:
It says that I’m unique. First of all, it’s puffy and I like it that way. I know people will tease me about it because it’s not straight. I don’t want to fit in.
This type of action from the school only feeds into an already extensive problem we are seeing every day in our schools; bullying. Bullying is an epidemic flooding both the school and the internet. Children are going as far as killing themselves due to excessive bullying online and in everyday life. Vanessa stood up to this plague and, in turn, was initially put in a situation where she had to choose between her personal expression or continuing her education with her friends in a school she is happy in.
Vanessa’s school didn’t take long to change their minds on the expulsion, telling Vanessa that expulsion was no longer a threat, only 24 hours later. Despite the school’s ?change of heart,? a situation like this demands attention in order to teach administration to have a better response theory to those suffering from bullying; an issue that can severely affect a young person’s life.
