by
Portia
Not only are schools policing how black children wear their hair, they are also trying to police what they put in it. When Tionna Norris, a Chicago resident, sent her daughter Amia to Raggedy Anne Learning Center she wasn’t expecting to receive a note from her daughter’s Russian teacher regarding Amia’s hair. The note read:
“I understand the necessary of coconut oil on Amia’s hair, but please do not use as much. The children were complaining that her hair “stinks”. If you have to apply this daily – please do so lightly, so the kids don’t tease her. Thank you for understanding.”
Amia is the only black student in her class and Norris says she’s made a point of keeping her hair naturally curly to build her confidence. Needless to say she wasn’t amused by the note and made clear that she has no intention of taking the teacher’s advice.
The school hasn’t responded to requests for comment, however Norris does not plan to pull Amia from the program and says the teacher is being appropriately admonished.
Ladies, how would you react in this situation?
5 Responses
Coconut oil doesn’t affect her job. Her next paycheck will get here next week. As long as she can still pay her bills and buy food during and after the smell of coconut oil, She can quietly keep it moving and don’t mention the child’s hair ever again. Stop policing black girl hair.
This teacher was wrong in so many ways. I’m glad Amia has a mother that can smell bullshit a mile away and came to her defense. This teacher lied about Amia being bullied because of her own ignorance and prejudice. Even if the child was being bullied there is no reason a teacher should tell a child to change themselves to solve they’re bulling problem. That is victim blaming. If anyone in the classroom was bullying Amia it was clearly the teacher.
The teacher is victim blaming pure and simple. Policing the victim and not the ones attacking.
I’m not sure what to think about this. It seems the teacher was trying to protect the child from being bullied. If she had done nothing people would be complaining.4
I agree