Georgia school faces backlash over hair guide

From box fades to braids, a display on the wall of a suburban Atlanta elementary school tried to illustrate “inappropriate” haircuts and hairstyles. But there was one thing the children who were photographed had in common: They were all black.

The display by the Narvie J. Harris Theme School in Decatur, Ga., was taken down Thursday — the same day it had been put up — after being widely criticized as racially insensitive. The episode happened at a time when cities and states across the United States have adopted legislation making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of a person’s hairstyle.

The faces of the children in the photographs were covered with Post-it notes. It was unclear if they were students at the school, which is 95 percent African American, according to the state’s Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.

The display went viral after Danay Wadlington, the owner of a beauty parlor in the nearby city of Duluth, posted a photograph of it on Facebook after her client, whose child goes to the school, gave it to her. That woman did not want to be identified.

“It wouldn’t have looked so bad if they had included other races,” Wadlington, who is African American, said. “Those styles are very popular styles. Who says that our hair is not professional? Our hair is part of us.”

The DeKalb County School District, which is Georgia’s third-largest school district and is 64 percent African American, would not say who had approved the display or who had put it up.

“Once the district was made aware of the poster, it was immediately removed,” the school district said in an email statement. “In addition, a letter was sent to parents clarifying the school’s dress code and appearance policy.

“Directives have been given to school administrators,” the district said in a follow-up email. “Sensitivity training has been scheduled.”