A federal judge dismissed most of the claims in the lawsuit filed by Darryl George , a Texas high school student who was suspended multiple times for wearing locs and refusing to cut them off.
“Not everything that is undesirable, annoying, or even harmful amounts to a violation of the law, much less a constitutional problem,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote in his order on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press .
Barbers Hill High School near Houston has a policy restricting hair length for male students. George, who tied his hair up to go to school, was suspended for most of his junior year during the 2023-24 school year for violating the dress code. He served in-school suspension at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu.
“Daryl is sitting on a stool, a stool in a cubby,” George’s mother Darresha George previously told Insider . “That’s what conditions he’s in. He’s got to sit on the stool for eight hours, back hurting, and can’t move.”
She added that her son wasn’t given a cafeteria lunch but only a sandwich and water. She also noted that his grades were falling due to not getting proper instruction, emphasizing the emotional toll the suspension took on George.
“He’s going to keep fighting, but it’s tearing him down,” she said. “He’s up every night. He has tears in his eyes every day. He’s emotionally and physically drained behind this.”
Last year, George filed a federal civil rights lawsuit with his mother, Darresha George. They sued the school district, superintendent, principal and assistant principal. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton were also sued.
“Darryl’s hair is spiritual, his hair is a connection to his ancestors. His hair is a connection to God,” Dr. Candice Matthews, a civil rights activist who helped the family file the lawsuit, told Insider.
George’s locs were woven with his father’s, stepdad’s and brother’s hair.
“Cutting it off is cutting him off from them too,” Matthews added.
The lawsuit alleged that the student’s suspension violated the CROWN Act. The law, which took effect in Sept. 2023 in Texas, bans race-based hair discrimination. It also alleged that it violated George’s First Amendment rights to free speech. The lawsuit added that the school district’s policy was being primarily enforced on Black students.
Brown dismissed these claims and removed Abbott, Paxton, the district superintendent and school employees from the case.
The only claim that wasn’t dismissed was an allegation of gender discrimination because of the school district’s lack of clear policy as to why girls are allowed to have long hair as opposed to boys.
The news comes as another federal lawsuit challenging the school’s hair policy is pending. It was filed by two other students in May 2020, who withdrew from the school. One of the students returned after a “federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying there was ‘a substantial likelihood’ that his rights to free speech and to be free from racial discrimination would be violated if he was barred,” according to the AP.
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