‘A SPIRITUAL SYMBOL’
Una Momolu is calling on the Edmonton Catholic School Board to apologize to her son, Emmell, 11, after a principal said his ‘durag’ headwear suggested gang affiliation.
Una Momolu and her 11-year-old son Emmell Summerville are demanding a full apology from the Catholic school board after school officials called the boy’s durag a symbol of gang associations.
“Durags should be allowed because it’s a spiritual symbol to black culture, and we are tired of discrimination and racism,” Momolu said Thursday night at a rally of community members.
In September, Momolu said she was told her son couldn’t wear a durag to his school, Christ the King, because it was a gang symbol.
“Obviously the durag — it’s just targeting a specific group of people. It’s just dark-skinned kids,” said Momolu.
A 10-minute audio recording of a meeting between the school principal, Phebe Switzer, and Momolu,
which was released to the public, captures a conversation that touches on the history of durags, alleged gang associations, and even a misunderstanding about Summerville’s family relationships.
In the meeting, the principal reiterated that the school’s student handbook bans headwear. Momolu said she spoke with police, who were called to the school following the meeting, but that she wasn’t threatening or aggressive. Momolu says she was banned from the school for one year.
In a statement issued by Edmonton Catholic Schools on Thursday, the division apologized for using the word “gang,” but said the issue of race was never part of the discussion.
The choice to keep Emmell home from school is solely the mother’s decision, the school board’s statement said.
The division stood by its decision to ban Momolu from the school, and stated that after the recording, the “conduct of the mother escalated and our surveillance shows her acting aggressively toward staff and the police when they arrived.”
The school board was trying to unfairly portray Momolu as angry, local activist Bashir Mohamed said, calling for the release of the video footage.
The protest, attended by about 50 people, began at R.J.W. Mather Park and moved to the Lumen Christi Catholic Education Centre.
“If the school board doesn’t apologize, we’ll do this again until they apologize,” said Mohamed.