Three white male students at Immanuel Christian School in Northern Virginia caused a great deal of outrage this week, when they cut a black student’s dreadlocks in a hate crime. Monday 12-year-old Amari Allen was pinned down by the group of boys, who taunted her with racist comments before cutting her hair.
In a statement Friday, the NAACP asked the school to “take immediate disciplinary action against the students in question.”
“The Fairfax County NAACP is closely monitoring the situation at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Va. We would like to know what the school’s existing policy is on racism and bullying. We also expect the administration to take immediate disciplinary action against the students in question,” the organization said. In the statement, the group goes on to ask that the school implement a zero-tolerance policy, which alludes to reasons why laws like the CROWN Act are so important.
“Immanuel Christian School must stand up for its students and immediately institute a zero-tolerance policy for racism, discrimination, and harassment, especially when it rises to the level of assault.”
In July, California became the first state to pass the CROWN Act legislature that makes discriminatory treatment upon individuals with certain hairstyles and hair textures punishable by law. Shortly after, the state of New York passed the bill, and Armani Allen, along with Andrew Johnson, the Buena Vista High School Student who was forced to cut his hair in order to compete in a school wrestling match, remind us that it can’t stop there.
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If you’d like to lend your support to The CROWN Act, click here to sign the petition.