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    cakes_and-piesBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 4:13pm

    God forbid a Black teenager girl exercise some autonomy over how she looks, and who the hell bans nail polish???

    This is one of the reasons why I can’t stand charter schools.

    Reply
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      Rooo sez BISH PLZ
      5/12/17 5:13pm

      The thing is – it’s not “just” about hair or hairstyles, the way female “hair of color” has been politicized (and that through no fault of the people who happen to have said hair just growing out of their heads).

      It is a racist punishment. It is literally punishment for looking different in a way that could only be altered at the DNA level – and I’d like to think you’d agree that would be far too extreme a “remedy” to even begin to ask the victims of such discrimination to undertake, voluntary leg-lenthening Chinese surgery and Korean womens’ well-documented “Westernizing” and “whitening” plastic surgery notwithstanding.

      http://jezebel.com/289268/glamour-editor-to-lady-lawyers-being-black-is-kinda-a-corporate-dont

      http://jezebel.com/5078254/a-year-after-the-black-hair-controversy-glamour-marches-on

      http://thesaladbowl.kinja.com/about-time-and-way-past-it-and-thank-you-for-your-serv-1792228314

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      TheBurnersMyDestination
      5/12/17 5:36pm

      I went to a catholic school and we couldn’t have painted fingernails. Or anything that was fun or cool, really. But I did learn how to tie a tie, which has been super useful as an adult woman in the real world....

      Reply
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    CaveyBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 3:46pm

    “Can’t you just take the braids out?

    -Not really-

    “What, you mean it might take a while?”

    -Yes-

    “And your might look like what?

    -Colin Kaepernick’s afro after a game-

    “I had no idea.” clutches pearls at the thought of a blacker hair stlye

    -NO SHIT-

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      KateFromIowaCavey
      5/12/17 4:22pm

      LOL! A blacker hair style!

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      TotoGrenvitchCavey
      5/12/17 4:34pm

      Coming in Fro’d out would’ve been a sweet way to stick it to them.

      Reply
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    basicbeachesBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 4:11pm

    Here’s their very, very white staff:

    http://www.mvrcs.com/apps/staff/

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      Raineyb1013basicbeaches
      5/12/17 4:55pm

      This staff is super white. Nothing like having white people in their ignorance, policing the hair of Black girls.

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      reasonable-n-rationalbasicbeaches
      5/12/17 5:01pm

      Goddamn, I counted 11 POC on the entirety of the staff, and only got to double digits when I was almost to the bottom of the page.

      You mean to tell me that this school in Mass somehow couldn’t find more than 11 qualified individuals to be on the staff of this entire school?

      This is beyond pathetic.

      Reply
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    blogdizBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 6:16pm

    This is why when tone deaf kumbaya Shea Moisture ads run ads with red heads thinking about going blond or blondes trying to find a cute hair style as “Hair hate “ Black women get upset IT . IS. NOT. THE. SAMe. THING

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      Raineyb1013blogdiz
      5/12/17 6:44pm

      Say it again!

      Maybe the Black men and the Becky’s co-signing on the fuckery will STFU about how not big a deal hair is.

      Reply
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      reasonable-n-rationalblogdiz
      5/12/17 9:06pm
      Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF

      I wish I could give this comment all the stars! Preach that shit

      Reply
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    Drake's HotlineBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 5:39pm

    Whenever the topic of cultural appropriative hair styles comes up non-Black people come from left field to say that our hairstyles are “just” hairstyles and that they serve no purpose or that we don’t get treated differently for the ways we literally HAVE to style our hair. I know it’s a strawman argument but it never fails to anger me. This is why Black hairstyles aren’t “just hair”. Black girls wear their hair in braids to protect it because our hair is fragile. It looking cool is just an added bonus. Black people need protective styling, basically, all year round and this just further proves that these wardrobe policies are racist and reductive.

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      Rooo sez BISH PLZDrake's Hotline
      5/12/17 7:44pm

      Yeah.

      http://www.theroot.com/1795175316

      http://www.theroot.com/1795177476

      Reply
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      Reclaiming My TimeDrake's Hotline
      5/12/17 7:44pm

      Additionally, black people have been wearing braids for THOUSANDS of years. It’s not some faddish ‘distraction’. I wish we could abolish blond hair coloring for ten years so these fuckwits can get a clue — what they do to THEIR hair is purely for attraction-seeking purposes. Braids keep our hair from tangling and matting.

      Reply
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    Ugh.Breanna Edwards
    5/12/17 3:33pm

    Fucking hell...

    Let kids wear their goddamned hair. This isn’t a case of someone walking in with a fucking purple mohawk.

    Damn it, Malden. I thought you’d have stopped embarrassing me when I moved out of you.

    Reply
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      Rooo sez BISH PLZUgh.
      5/12/17 4:06pm

      In the face of all this

      Arrest of Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Was Avoidable, Report Says - WaPo

      http://deadspin.com/racist-boston-sports-fans-are-very-much-a-boston-proble-1794926321

      http://deadspin.com/how-not-to-react-to-news-of-boston-fan-racism-1794848944

      http://deadspin.com/cc-sabathia-says-every-black-player-expects-racist-taun-1794851777

      http://www.theroot.com/black-students-at-harvard-will-host-individual-graduati-1794977320

      (especially some of the outrageous so-called “responses” to the article)

      as well as some of my own personal experiences when I stayed close to there (and all those are just a set of examples, as opposed to the only incidents, as I’d like to think you already know) -

      perhaps I’m being a touch cynical, but I can’t begin to imagine why you thought that.

      At the same time, I’m heartily sick of these racist “teachers” and “school administrators” and, as a holder of a MA state credential as one of those, in addition to a couple of others, I feel like I might have to do what I can to rally friends at a few organizations to take some action to help the people “in charge” understand how, why, and the extent to which they’ve erred.

      I’m quite tired of this crap year after year after year after year, this victimization of some of the most already-victimized people in this country (young girls of color) - especially now as “empowered” by Racist Sessions (so they think) – and I’m equally tired of Northern states’ uber-hypocritical assumptions that they’re any “better” than Southern states when it comes to this deplorable behavior. They aren’t.

      Someone else wrote this far better than I’m about to try to express it, in the wake of all this recent garbage … but (all)white people in this country have a choice to make. I think they – you – have to decide whether you’re going to continue to permit and try to excuse and rationalize away and “butbutbutbut” this kind of behavior and watch the country go down in flames as a direct result, or if you’re going to actively put a stop to this kind of (endless, endless, seriously, just stop) crap so the best and brightest of all races, colors, & ethnicities, whom the country needs to be both functional and globally competitive can thrive in a hostile environment you helped to create instead of being repeatedly and deliberately pushed down and pushed aside because of sheer ignorance.

      It’s way past time and the clock - your clock - is ticking.

      The White Male Effect: Real & Dangerous To Us All

      Advance notice to trolls feeling threatened: You will be dismissed. Take your sputtering elsewhere and your diseased selves to therapy.

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      Ugh.Rooo sez BISH PLZ
      5/12/17 4:19pm

      One does what one can. And, seeing as a growing contingent of whites have eschewed reason in favor of naked tribalism and rank, stubborn hypocrisy, seems that all that’s left to do is throw ‘bows.

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    TripBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 3:55pm

    Are hair extensions required for braids? The article here says the school specifically cares about the hair extensions, but also refers to braids in general as though they were the same thing. This is something I am honestly not familiar with, and I don’t understand.

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      Raineyb1013Trip
      5/12/17 4:57pm

      They’re not necessary. On the other hand, who the fuck wants strange people inspecting their child’s hair after you’ve had it done? So every somene has their hair done they’re to be yanked out of class and have their head inspected by someone who hasn’t a bloody clue as to what they’re looking for.

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      TripRaineyb1013
      5/12/17 5:07pm

      Got it. So braids aren’t the issue. Thanks.

      Reply
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    eoghan01Breanna Edwards
    5/12/17 3:54pm

    That’s my town! Parent groups in the area are generally pretty irritated about the policy, especially since the charter school in question already had a reputation for disproportionately suspending Black students. Here’s how the district high school handled a vaguely similar issue: http://malden.wickedlocal.com/news/20161107/malden-high-students-challenge-headwrap-ban

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      reasonable-n-rationaleoghan01
      5/12/17 5:03pm

      This is barely 6 months ago, too. Wow.

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      eoghan01reasonable-n-rational
      5/12/17 5:13pm

      Yeah, completely different schools, though.

      Reply
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    Hannibal A PortasBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 6:33pm

    “reducing visible gaps among those of different means.” I’ve heard this argument before. But anyone with a child in a school with uniforms knows it’s bull. The students are well aware whose uniforms came from Old Navy and who bought theirs from one of the “better” approved stores. They know that only students who can afford the team uniforms, shoes and warm up jackets play sports. They know the girl with the cheese sandwich parents didn’t or couldn’t pay that month’s lunch bill. There are lots of ways to reduce that gap without sacrificing culture and individuality.

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      ns930Hannibal A Portas
      5/12/17 7:34pm

      This isn’t the case with all uniforms. When I went to a school with a uniform policy in Miami, there was a uniform outlet place where ALL students got them. Everyone wore the exact same thing.

      But then it just comes down to other things. For a while, JanSport backpacks were the “it” thing, along with a certain type of Adidas shoe. Girls took up the hem on their skirts to make them shorter. A particular kind of chain necklace/bracelet became popular. So yeah, kids will find a way to have their little social hierarchies, regardless of the clothes they wear.

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      Rooo sez BISH PLZHannibal A Portas
      5/12/17 7:45pm

      (P.S. The person in the greys replying to you below is missing the point by going off on a tangent about “butbutbut uniforms”. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t allow it.)

      Reply
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    OctoberSurpriseBreanna Edwards
    5/12/17 4:14pm

    I lived in Malden for 7 years and still live in the area serviced by this charter school, although my daughter goes to a local public school. My wife and I have debated about trying to get in the Mystic Valley as they are ranked the best charter school in Mass and one of the best in the country, but this shit is ridiculous. My daughter doesnt often wear her hair in braids but the idea that if she did she could be exposed to an inspection is infuriating.

    Reply