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Jamaica’s High Court Rules A School Was Within Its Rights To Demand That A Student Cut Her Locks

<p>TSR We Global&colon; For years&comma; locks have been a staple hairstyle to the country of Jamaica and Rastafarian culture&comma; which is why a recent ruling by its high court came as a shock to many&period; The high court ruled Friday that a local school was &&num;8220&semi;within its rights&&num;8221&semi; to ask a student to cut her locks in order to attend classes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the Washington Post&comma; the Supreme Court of Jamaica ruled in favor of the Kingston Primary School after a two-year battle with the student and her family&period; At the time&comma; the young girl was just 5 years old&comma; and was told she had to cut her locks for &&num;8220&semi;hygiene reasons&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The girl and her parents reportedly plan to file an appeal against the Supreme Court&comma; as the family and civil rights group&comma; Jamaicans for Justice&comma; say the order for the student to cut her hair was revoking her freedom of expression and access to her education&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I will not be cutting my daughter&&num;8217&semi;s hair&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Sherine Virgo said after the ruling&period; &&num;8220&semi;If they give me that ultimatum again&comma; I will be moving her&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The family&&num;8217&semi;s lawyer spoke out following school closings due to the coronavirus pandemic&comma; saying the ruling is quite unfortunate for black families in Jamaica&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I am more than surprised&period; It is most unfortunate&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period; &&num;8220&semi;It is a most unfortunate day for Black people and for Rastafarian people in Jamaica&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The girl&&num;8217&semi;s father also spoke out&comma; calling the ruling another indicator of &&num;8220&semi;systemic racism&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This is a opportunity for the Jamaican government and the legal system had to right these wrongs and lead the world and make change&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period; &&num;8220&semi;But they have decided to keep the same system&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Virgo families clarifies that while they are not Rastafarian&comma; they do wear locks as a form of expressions of their identity&period; All of the members of the family rock the natural hairstyle&comma; and do not plan on cutting their hair any time soon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What are your thoughts&comma; Roomies&quest; Let us know in the comments&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Want updates directly in your text inbox&quest; Hit us up at 917-722-8057 or <a class&equals;"QuillHelpers-link textEditor-link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;my&period;community&period;com&sol;theshaderoom" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-is-link&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;my&period;community&period;com&sol;theshaderoom">https&colon;&sol;&sol;my&period;community&period;com&sol;theshaderoom<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"63031" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;jamaicas-high-court-rules-a-school-was-within-its-rights-to-demand-that-a-student-cut-her-locks&sol;" data-secure&equals;"73f3d8639b"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; 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