wtf: this teen was called into asst. principal’s office because her afro was too “extreme”

After rocking her afro for most of the school year, Seventeen-year-old Jenesis Johnson was confronted by a teacher at North Florida Christian in Tallahassee. In front of the class, her teacher asked, “How long are you rocking that hairstyle?“, leading Johnson’s classmates to ask her questions about the maintenance. WCTV reports, a few days later Jenesis was called into the assistant principal’s office where Jenesis says she was told that her hair was against the private school’s rules. “She said, “your hair is extreme and faddish and out of control. It’s all over the place.””

NFC’s student handbook says, “No faddish or extreme hairstyles and hair should be neat and clean at all times. The administration will make the decision on any questionable styles.”

Of course the afro isn’t a fade so much it is black natural hair growing out of the scalp, and the natural state of black hair is only considered ”extreme“ when the standards are ones of white supremacy, but okay.

“You might say that it didn’t fit the handbook,” said Lisa Johnson, Jenesis’ mother. “But I saw, and what she heard is a woman telling her that she’s not pretty; her hair does fit society.”

Photo via WCTV

*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.