Rastafarian Children In Louisiana OK'd To Wear Dreadlocks In School

Jet, Oct 16, 2000

Eight Lafayette, LA, children whose Rastafarian religion forbids them from cutting their dreadlocked hair were recently allowed to attend school after officials waived a student rule banning "extremes in hair styles."

This decision came after school board members and attorneys of the Lafayette Parish School System met with U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty to discuss a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana on behalf of the family. According to the lawsuit, the family had been denied its constitutional rights of free expression and free practice of its Rastafarian religion.

The two parents, Georgiana Helaire, mother of seven children, and Edgar Green, father of one child, who moved from Oakland, CA, to Louisiana as a family, attempted to enroll the children in public school but were denied until the children conformed to the school system's dress code. The school beard policy 2A dress code says, "No headwear shall be worn to school with the exception of knit caps in extremely cold weather ... No pony tails, pig tails or extremes in hair style are permitted." The parents said their religion forbids cutting their hair and requires that they cover their heads when outside of their homes.

School board members were forced to waive the hair rule after they learned more about the students' constitutional rights during a conference with the lawyers and the judge. The decision was a victory for the religious freedom clause of the first amendment, said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana ACLU.

The children, ages 6 to 14, have been home-schooled by their parents since school began in August. The family's lawyer, Eugene Thomas, said that they will get tutors to help them catch up with their class work so that their grades will not reflect the weeks of class they missed.