Controversy is brewing after a mixed-race black student at a high school in Japan was quarantined for wearing reggae hair and attending a graduation ceremony.
According to Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun on the 28th, in February at a prefectural high school in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, 3rd grade student A (18), who attended the graduation ceremony wearing a so-called ‘corn row’ style, also known as reggae hair, was isolated on the second floor. It’s because of the violation of the hair rules.
Group A is a mixed race with a Japanese mother and a black American father. Regarding the school’s measures, “Each person comes from a different background and may have a different hair style, but it is strange to conclude that my hair is in violation of school rules. I hope you respect my roots.”
School rules at the school in Group A stipulate that hair should be ‘clean like a high school student’. In particular, for male students, make sure that your hair does not cover your eyes or hang over your ears, and that the back of your hair does not touch the collar.
Group A, who was instructed by the teacher to “do not let the hair touch the ears” during the hair inspection ahead of the graduation ceremony, said that she asked the hairdresser “don’t dye or add hair extensions so that it doesn’t look flashy” while doing a cornrow style the day before the graduation ceremony. .
However, on the morning of the graduation ceremony, group A was asked by several teachers, “What is this? violate the school rules I was scolded for not being like a student” and had to wait for about an hour in the student guidance room.
Afterwards, at the beginning of the graduation ceremony, Group A, who was called to the gymnasium, was told to “go to the second floor where there are no other students” and “do not answer even if his name is called at the graduation ceremony.” Group A went home with his parents thinking that the graduation ceremony was no longer meaningful.
When controversy arose over the school’s quarantine measures, the school said, “It was not intended to deny the traditional black haircut, it was only guiding regarding the hair regulation.” explained
Regarding this, the Japanese Board of Education held an emergency press conference on the 28th and pointed out that “the school lacked educational consideration” for the school’s response.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.