Jack and Jill went up to Hill, but had to cut their hair.

Had to leave home and venture to the internet cafe/ gaming arcade to put this together (my system is still not working properly).

There are certain naturally occurring things that can be detrimental to our personal and social growth and development. For example the naturally occurring phenomenon which takes place across the human body but is concentrated in the armpits can lead to social rejection, scorn and ultimately pariah status. This occurrence, called body odour or, when one can say of one's self, to quote Doddy from Azman "I smell like get from round me", is a serious thing but over time humanity has deal with this offensive scourge by bathing and the application of potent aromatics to the body which over power the natural stink with pleasant, and/or neutralising scents, in the form of deodorants, colognes and perfumes. Another naturally occurring condition which is even more serious and detrimental to ones personal and social growth and development is nakedness. The very core of one's being, the very manner in which one comes into this world is a terrible plague and without the safe cover of clothing one might suffer the scorned eye of society and the negativity of its wretched tongue. Beware of those who bare themselves disrobed in public, they are a vile and nasty creature, lost of morality and sanity. Trust me the sight of a naked man or woman walking down the street will scare you, especially if the man or woman is not within the social paradigm known as "attractive".

There are many more vile natural occurrences and states of being that offend the social order and hinder personal advancement. Being born black in a post Atlantic Slavery socio-politcal paradigm for example does provide one with a series of challenges automatically, another is being born on any of these god-forsaken back water, banana republic, third world small islands, and another is not cutting one's hair. Ok, maybe the location of one's birth is not a naturally occurring thing, but it is something over which one has no control. Anyways you might be wondering about the last of the three things mentioned just now in what you probably thought was my departure from the humours and shift towards the serious. You are probably wondering why has the strangest rastaman included not cutting one's hair to the list of naturally occurring, socially detracting features of society. Well we rastafari already know how hair in its natural state can detract from one's social progression and add to one's social alienation and stereotyping. In fact most women who have let their hair grow out naturally have encountered some form of "what you do that for?", "why you don't straighten it?", "how long you leaving it so?" and other questions about the hair's natural state.

Body odour, left to run rampant, can be quite an unpleasant thing. The naked human body, minus its obvious distracting potential (especially since it is such a taboo) does benefit from the protection of clothing. Hair, grown into dreadlocks, benefits from being cut; how? I fail to see how the removal of hair from one's head can positively change one's life, except in a world where having it grow is wrong. Ok fine I have defeated my own argument because we do live in a world where having it grow is wrong. And it is wrong for two very good reasons: firstly because it just is, and secondly because they said so.

Not good reasons? Are you sure? Because when I was younger a lot of the things that I had done wrong were met with the justice of "because I said so", and a lot of teachers told me that somethings are the way they are because that is just the way it is. For example "Why is the sky blue?" "Because it just is"

You cannot go to the Hill Top Preparatory School with locs, because that is how it is. Well there was the case of some people who went with locs, but that is how it was then, but you cannot go there with them now because that is how it is now. (confused? I am) There was this one kid who went to Hill Top Preparatory School with locs, but then he/she felt weird a few weeks into the term and wanted to cut them and this was confusing for all involved. (not sure how so, but again this is the way it is) Locs, or the state one's hair will enter if left uncombed for an extended period of time, and popularised by those terrible rasta people here in the Caribbean, are a no go currently at the Hill Top Preparatory School.

It is a scientifically known fact that people with locs cannot learn as quickly as their trimmed contemporaries. It is also a scientifically proven fact that, in addition to their reduced learning aptitude, persons with locs also decelerate the learning process of those in their immediate surroundings and environs. It is therefore best to keep those dreads out of regular schools and let them be schooled together (probably to cut coconuts and say irie mon to tourists), if we let them learn at all.

Atiba, the boy who was rejected because of his hair.

Look at that little tyrant to the left, he will surely render the entire student body stupid with those dangling dread-ful locs.

All jokes and sarcasm aside. The issue is this, a mother and a father looked to get their son into the school closest to where he lives, and long story (click for the long story) made short, when the child and his father went to the school to be oriented, the principal informed them, well informed the father; she had not paid any mind to the child, that the child's fancy haircut was not going to allowed at the institution. Yes, a private school has the right to decide whom it lets enroll in its classes, but this is a case of discrimination at a high level, and not only that but it is also a lesson in "them and us" to the younger generation. This child, the one pictured above, now has to realise that while mummy and daddy, and his family, biological and otherwise, love him regardless of his appearance, there are those out there who will not get to love him because they have decided in their minds that the hair on his head, in the dreadlocks, is unwanted/ to be frowned upon. The other youngsters, four and five years old who may have seen the interaction, now have a social equation in their heads; boy + locs = undesirable.
How can a country in 2011, boasting of all manner of good social features be caught refusing a child an education because of the hair on his head? Did not the incident at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic a few years ago show that discrimination based on hair is a stupid endeavour? Even in that instance the position of the faculty had some sort of "logical" rationale behind their position, claiming that it was a safety issue and they did not want the students potentially harmed by having their hair caught in the moving parts of the machinery. Simple solution cover and restrict the hair. How can Hill Top Preparatory School really want to dismiss this family, did they not read about one Kevyn Callender, who was unable to work for a certain airline at the airport (where had worked before mind you) for no reason other than because he had locs? (well maintained and styled locs by the way).

It might be because I am a rastaman that this irks me, but I cannot be, and I know that I am not, alone in feeling that this is wrong.

Black woman and child, for you I have so much love...

The detriment is to the school, not to the child nor his family. The school is stuck somewhere in the middle of the last century and should really examine its policies and open itself to the world as it is and should be.

Honestly, foolishness is foolishness, and while Hill Top Preparatory School has the right to admit whomever it desires, it should not be allowed to do so in a discriminatory fashion to the detriment of a child and a family for something as trivial as locs. I would love to organise some sort of protest. I have already suggested that sympathetic parents of the students at the same school and other schools purchase those "tourist tams" that come with the fake locs and send their children to school in them as a sign of protest, peaceful but to the point. I would love to see this happen, so if there is anyone interested hit me up in the comment section below or email me at enam.idrissa@gmail.com. Might just be wasting my time, but I think it is worthwhile and needed.

Check out this blog as well, but it will cost you, so get your money ready, it is merely a Penny for her thoughts.
Video blog about the topic found here as well: Barbados wunna still with this in 2011?
Click here for the mother's story.

"They say I'm crazy for choosing rasta, but I stay natty, I love my culture..."

 

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