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Black Girl With Long Hair
Haneefa sent me this video. The story itself was reported by Tonya Mosley, who has been featured on BGLH.
Interesting story with some unique angles. It kind of reminds me of that story about the teacher who cut off the black girl’s hair because she was annoyed at the sound of the beads.
Allergies or not, do you think this situation was handled correctly? What message does it send to the girl involved?
28 Responses
First off, Tanya, the reporter, looks fab. LOVE HER NATURAL HAIR. Second, this is about her bieng mixed, not the product in her hair. I agree with what others have said, she should have bene moved to another advanced class, unless this woman was the only teacher. Even still, the teacher should have had a conference with the parents and they could have worked something out. But to have the child removed from the her honors classes like that is rediculous.If this isnt modern day racism then idk what is. The teacher/principal both need to be fired. For this to happen and the childs parents not be notified at all is rediculous
Tonya’s reppin!
I think everyone has pretty much said it all. I’m just sitting over here in the corner shaking my head. I can’t believe how this situation was handled. A child is missing school because the teacher has allergies? Well, ok then.
also, it broke my heart to hear the moms voice cracking as she spoke about her child. such a shame…
what kills me is the parents of the little girl appear to be very normal. i don’t think mom would have flipped out if the teacher approached her in a respectful way about the allergic reaction of the smell. i am also allergic to strong perfume smells and i do not use that product for that reason. however, the teacher could have just had a fan in the front of the class blowing directly on her or made sure to take a 24 hr claritin in the morning. it’s not that deep!
wtf. this is ludicrous. feel so sorry for the child – hope she isn’t psychologically harmed by all this mess from the teacher and school. *sigh*
http://www.therotund.com/?p=847 a white woman’s response to this situation. good read
I have an allergy to many scented products which, I suspect, is similar to this teacher’s, so I thought I could give some perspective on that.
It sucks. It really, really sucks. It’s not like seasonal allergies or dust allergies, which cause discomfort but can often be controlled with over the counter products. In my case, small amounts of exposure cause migraine-style headaches and nausea, which can last for hours, depending on how heavily I’ve been dosed. And like many other allergies, the more I’m exposed to problem products the worse it gets over time. In my late teens through nearly thirty, it was just perfume. Now it’s some brands of deodorant and scented room spray.
I’m not sure if it’s the same for everyone, but it’s nearly always obvious to me who, or what, is causing the problem. The things that make me sick start to have a bad, chemical odor. The morning I discovered that I’d started reacting to the brand of deodorant I’d used for three years, it smelled like something I’d never willingly put on my body. I’d worn it fine just the day before.
My case is not nearly as bad as some I’ve read about, but there are times when I feel like it controls too much of my life. If I’m at the movie theater and someone wearing perfume sits too close, I have to move. (And haven’t I gotten some rude looks about that over the years!) I’ve had some really unpleasant experiences in airplanes over the years, and it’s humiliating to have to explain to new acquaintances that they’re wearing something that’s making me ill. I feel guilty when my friends and I have to switch seats in a bar or restaurant, and events with seated tickets seriously stress me out, because I may end up having to choose between begging an usher to be reseated and leaving early. I can tell you every single retail store that sprays their branded perfume out into the hallways at local malls, and I’ve written letters to most of their corporate offices asking them to stop it. I’m only in my early thirties. I worry about how difficult public spaces may be for me after a few more decades.
Having said all that, while I can feel sympathy for the teacher’s issue, I have no sympathy at all for her reaction. If she absolutely couldn’t deal with the child’s hair product for the rest of the day, then she should have excused herself and called in a sub rather than single out that girl. She should have offered to work with the child’s mother to find a new, non-reactive product.
And in the long run, she should plan for a new career in a more controlled setting. In many work environments, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask the people around you to try their best to avoid heavily-scented products. It’s hard for me to see a school as a place where that’s practical. You can’t control the products that are going to be found in the house of every child you encounter, and even if every parent rearranged their choices to accommodate you, some of those children are still going to end up in class after using a friend’s perfume or scented lotion or whatever.
No matter what your issues may be, they’re you’re issues. You handle them as best you can. You don’t ever make a child feel like your problems are hers.
Thank you, your response was informative and filled with hate.
Sorry it was supposed to read:
“Thank you, your response was informative and NOT filled with hate.”
My apologies for not editing my response before posting.
There is an element to this story that, to this point, every previous commenter seems to have overlooked in your outrage against the teacher, and I agree, her actions were outrageous: The principal of the school knew what the teacher had done and did not act to correct the teacher. This signals to me that it is about more than the teacher and her suspect motives for removing the child from her honors classes. Teachers on this blog, correct me if I’m wrong, but if you get out of line, do you not have to answer to the principal of your school? And if you get out of line, and your principal does not correct it, does that not indicate that the principal is either ineffective or in agreement with what you did, even if what you did violates the principles of your school, which all employees of the school are supposed to uphold?
At it was in the case of the teacher who cut the girl’s braid because of clicking beads, the principal here has been ineffectual at least and, worse, tolerant/condoning of unsupportable misbehavior by the teacher.
Okay, so families of students were notified at the beginning of the year about the teacher’s tendencies to allergies: Why did they not get from the teacher a list of the allergies she has so that parents could do a better job of picking personal care products for their children that wouldn’t aggravate her allergies? And how does the teacher know if this particular girl was the only one using that particular product? Does the teacher not know that a number of different products could have chemicals/ingredients in common, so that perhaps a combination of these products with common allergens all being used on the same day may have triggered a particularly bad reaction, as opposed to just that one product? It is a definite probability, particularly if there was more than one student in the class who had need of a similar product to ORS.
Granted, there are some excellent teachers out there who rightly say that they would like to see more parental interest/involvement in classroom affairs; now teachers with behavior issues are making it even more important that parents be involved in every aspect of their children’s education, including the protection/defense of their children against overgrown bullies masquerading as teachers and the wussy principals who choose to allow rather than discipline them for behavior worse than that of any student.
This teacher does not deserve to be teaching if she didn’t have the common sense to realize that this 8-year-old probably has little to no say in what products are used on her hair, and to take the issue up with the child’s mother.
I LOVE Tonya’s hair! Represent! 😀
Many things concern me about this story, especially the fact that an adult pulled a child out of HONOR classes over an allergy when all she had to do is get an over-the-counter allergy medication. You can’t tell a parent what to put or not put in their child’s hair because you have allergies, but the teacher could have been responsible and SUGGESTED it. That’s like taking a child out of class because they have a pet cat’s fur on their clothes and your allergic to cats. Many people have allergies, but they don’t let that stop them from doing their jobs. I think that the teacher handled the situation terribly, and I hope more information is revealed about this story.
First of all, she waited a year??? Really??? This is absolutely ridiculous. I find that there are some teachers that constantly talk about parents not being involved in the education of their children, but then a teacher cannot take the initiative to involve parent in order to resolve an issue as simple as this???
UGGG!!! Another Outrage. I have allergies go find another occupation.
This borders on Hateeee pure and simple.
This story really gets under my skin. I am outraged at the way the situation was mishandled. Something has to be done.
I totally agree with the 2nd post (Soulfulsista).
This situation could have been handled differently. She did not have to kick the girl out of school. Simple as that.
And I hate to say but this is injustice because I believe that if her teacher was fair to her, they (teacher) would have found a middle ground and not just completely put this child at a disadvantage. This sucks.
This situation could have been handled differently. Someone should have contact that girls mom about the allergies instead of putting the girl on blast like she did something wrong.
Are workplaces no longer doing sensitivity training?
Or are workers not paying any attention during the training?
Or does having a black man as president of the United States suddenly give folks carte blanche to debase black people — even children — in any and every way?
What happened to this young girl is completely unconscionable!!!
I’m allergic to racism!!!
Donna and everyone thanks for the compliments. I agree there is more to the story and I look forward to finding the details out.
your hair smells like root stimulator so im gonna put you in a regular class (a class you dont belong in) then im gonna kick you out of school so you dont recieve an education……SMH
@NaturalMe
Exactly, I was thinking the same thing. What exactly is she allergic to in the product? If she had a problem with the product the child uses then she should have talked to the parents first of all from the get go, why wait to the end of the school year to do it. Secondly, why outright say it out loud in front of the class, that was hella childish and unprofessional to do. But why kick her out of all of her honors classes? That is fishy, I hope they do investigate because unless her mother was dumping loads and loads of ORS in her hair to smell up the classroom, I think the teacher is lying. I brought ORS one time and the smell wasn’t that noticable to me or heavily concentrate like other products so I don’t know what the teacher is talking about something doesn’t add up in this story
this was NOT handled correctly! it makes me so sad/upset that she had to go through that.
Sooooo what exactly is she allergic to? I don’t get it. I’m sorry but as an adult, correction, as a professional adult her priority should be that child and her education! Screw your allergies.
I’m just glad to see a white woman using the right products in her biracial child’s hair. My niece is biracial and as much as I try to help her mother pick the right products she refuses to use them in her hair, in fact she refuses to use anything other than shampoo and conditioner. Lawd, help the child.
Oh and I love the fro Miss Tonya! Don’t see too many natural reporters.
I think each of us need to write a well versed letter to the principal and the teacher, expressing EXTREME concern over what has occurred.
Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
http://www.seattleschools.org
2401 South Irving Street
Seattle, WA 98144-3727
(206) 252-2800
Is it only me that heard about this and thought the full story had remained hidden? I wondered why it took the teacher a year to complain – was it that she was afraid to? Was reluctant to have the girl removed from the class until she could no longer take the ORS product or some other reason?
Why was the mother not invited to the school to discuss the problem? How could they be sure that it was the ORS – when you have allergies, they can flare up over things you were once tolerant of then one day your body has a reaction to it. It could be something the teacher had recently started using on her own body/clothes/hair. Who knows. I have allergies and realise that anything and nothing can set them off.
Since the teacher is apparently equipped to teach a class, is employed at the school etc they couldn’t get rid of her so they decided to move the child. I really think they should have discussed getting rid of the ORS product with the girls mother and monitored how the teacher did after that. Since the child was removed, has the allergy gone?
I feel this is an incomplete story and comments on it are futile until the whole rhyme and reason come to light.
There is so much wrong with this situation I don’t know where to begin.
First, why did the teacher wait until the school year was damn near over to complain about the smell. If her allergies were that serious, I doubt that was the first time the smell bothered her. Next, if smells bother her that bad, why the hell is she a teacher? Children tend to emit quite a few smells and if she is that sensitive, me thinks she needs to find a new profession. This situation could have been handled so much better. She could have arranged a conference with the child’s mother and the school or they could have at least put her in another advanced placement class instead of placing her in a class that doesn’t academically challenge her.
This is completely ridiculous. If the woman was allergic to the moisturizer, all she had to do was speak to the girl’s mother about it so they could try a different product. To kick the girl out over this is totally incomprehensible. The teacher should be reprimanded and the girl should be allowed back in the honor classes immediately. I pray she doesn’t grow up embarrassed by her hair because of this situation.
First, I want to say CONGRATS to Tonya for rocking her fro, she looks GREAT!
Second, I think that it is absolutely ridiculous to kick someone out of class because of an allergy. The situation was handled very poorly. I think there must be other hidden factors that caused her to kick the girl out of the class that are yet to be seen. The poor little girl is going to remember this moment in her life as a distinct moment when she recognized she was different. Her differences negatively (and wrongfully so) affected her receiving the education she deserves.