Quantcast
Channel: People
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 4239

An 11-year-old black girl was sent home from school because her hair wasn't 'natural'

$
0
0

christ the king school

  • An 11-year-old girl was sent home from school because her hair was not "natural," according to her family.
  • Over the summer, a policy was implemented at Christ the King Elementary School in Terrytown, Louisiana, that says: "Only the student's natural hair is permitted. Extensions, wigs, hair pieces of any kind are not allowed."
  • The student's older brother described the policy on Facebook as "just one more barrier to entry for black people."
  • The student, Faith Fennidy, no longer attends the school, her mom told NOLA.com. 

An 11-year-old black girl was sent home from school on Monday because her hair was not "natural," her family says.

The student, Faith Fennidy, was not allowed to attend classes at Christ the King Elementary School in Terrytown, Louisiana, because she had extensions in her hair, according to a Facebook post by her brother, Steven Fennidy, that has since gone viral. 

According to his post, the private school introduced a new policy about hair over the summer without proper warning.

The school's handbook says: "Only the student's natural hair is permitted. Extensions, wigs, hair pieces of any kind are not allowed."

But Steven Fennidy said this policy doesn't take black students into account.

"How do you make a policy without even having a discussion. It's because you don't care and it's just one more barrier to entry for black people," he wrote. "This decision is going to affect black children more than white children."

In a statement to INSIDER, the Archdiocese of New Orleans said parents were told of the change during the summer.

"This policy was communicated to all parents during the summer and again before the first day of school, and was applied to all students," the archdiocese said. "Furthermore, the school leadership worked with families as needed to ensure compliance."

In the video in Steven's post, Faith can be seen crying. Off camera, a woman asks, "What's wrong with her hair?"

When she was sent home from school, Faith was wearing her school uniform, and her hair was styled in a ponytail. Steven said that she "got a notice on the first day of class" about her hair and that the Fennidy family "tried to resolve" the issue "with the school, but they won't compromise at all."

The post was shared by Tokyo Vanity of VH1's "Love & Hip Hop Atlanta," who happens to be her aunt.

The rapper TI also shared it on Instagram.

Christ the King school in Gretna,La. You are deplorable!!! A true disgrace to the very thing your school’s name says it represents. How do you feel that this is a proper representation of what Jesus Christ the King & how he would want us to treat our children? You should be ashamed of yourselves...although I know you aren’t. This young lady is beautiful and her hair is perfectly fine. Unless of course you have an issue with black people’s hair in generally? Or is it that you intended to publicly ostracize & humiliate these young ladies so they’d be ashamed of who they are and how they look... making them feel inadequate because they aren’t YOUR version of beautiful? That’s the only explanations I can conceivably come up with. TO THESE BEAUTIFUL YOUNG LADIES who endured this covert application of bigotry disguised as school policy... I want you to know this... Your hair is beautiful. Your skin is beautiful. Your minds are beautiful. And not only that... you’re so undeniably beautiful & brilliant that you threaten anyone who tells you otherwise, to the point that they’re willing to stoop to levels as low as this to discourage you,so you’ll give up on your goals and never reach the levels of greatness they know await you. Please DONT LET THEM WIN!!! Please Just know the world is full of ignorant,hateful, insecure, inferior, demonic assholes. They want nothing more than to block your blessings by creating doubt in your minds, fueled by the false illusion of you not being good enough. But DONT BELIEVE THAT BULLSHIT!!!! YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH-nah BETTER THAN ANYBODY WHO TRIES TO MAKE YOU FEEL OTHERWISE. FUCK EM🖕🏽FUCK EM🖕🏽FUCK EM ALL!!! and tell em TIP said that... not TI!!!! Parents Please let me know if there’s ANY WAY POSSIBLE for me to be helpful. #HowDareYall #YourEnemyShouldntSchoolYourChildren

A post shared by TIP (@troubleman31) on Aug 20, 2018 at 1:58pm PDT on

Shaun King, the activist and Intercept columnist, also shared the post.

Montrelle Fennidy said that her daughter was no longer a student at Christ the King Elementary School and that she was trying to find a new school for the sixth-grader, NOLA.com reported.

"The school offered the student's family an opportunity to comply with the uniform and dress policy and the family chose to withdraw the student; the student was not suspended or expelled," a representative for the school told INSIDER of Faith.

The representative continued: "We remain committed to being a welcoming school community that celebrates our unity and diversity."

This isn't the first time a situation like this has transpired at a private school. Last week, a 6-year-old boy was sent home on the first day of school at A Book's Christian Academy in Florida because he had dreadlocks, The Washington Post reported.

Steven Fennidy didn't immediately return INSIDER's request for comment.

For more great stories, head to INSIDER's homepage.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A St. Louis hairstylist created a rainbow-colored optical illusion


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 4239

Trending Articles



<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>