Eighth-Grader Sent To Principal’s Office For Her Natural Hair Being 'Too Poofy'

[CASHAPP]

Eighth-Grader Sent To Principal’s Office For Her Natural Hair Being 'Too Poofy'

A Toronto teen was called to the principal's office last week because her natural hair was "too poofy," according to her aunt's Facebook post.

This is the 8th grader's family member not her herself..





Kaysie Quansah at Amesbury Middle School.
November 6 at 12:19pm · Toronto, Canada ·
I wake up this morning to my sister telling me that my wonderful, beautiful niece was told that she needs to change her hair at school. (I recently crochet braided her hair.) The principal of Amesbury Middle School TRACEY BARNES told my niece that she needs to put her hair up, gave her a hair band/scrunchie/ponytail holder (whatever you'd like to call it) and repeatedly told her to do something about her hair. My niece challenged her and asked her why the students with 'good ...

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Amesbury Middle School
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Kaysie Quansah wrote that her niece was "was reduced to tears" in the principal's office. City News spoke with Quansah's sister, Teresa, who explained that principal Tracey Barnes, a black woman, called her to tell her that her thirteen-year-old daughter's hair was "too poofy" and "unprofessional." She said the principal went on to add that she would have to stay in the office if she returned to school with her hair down. Normally, the eighth-grader wears her hair in braids or pulled back, according to her mom. Teresa said her daughter had been repeatedly chastised by the principal before this recent incident.

“I didn’t see what the big deal was about my hair because it wasn’t bothering anybody,” the young girl told City News. “I was just doing my work, so I didn’t see why I had to be pulled out of the class.”

The family didn't respond to a request for comment from The Huffington Post.

Ryan Bird, communications officer for Toronto District School Board, sent HuffPost a statement that said he could not go into the details of the story for privacy reasons, "but we are aware that the principal spoke with a student about their hair last week."

"The school and superintendent are following up with the family to address any concerns they may have," he added. "Hair is not covered by the TDSB or school’s dress code."

Quansah told City News that she had conflicting emotions when she found out principal Barnes was a black woman. She said that the principal's negative comments about her niece's hair seems to her "like it was drilled in [Barnes] when she was younger or when she was growing up and now she's projecting that onto little black girls that may have reminded her of herself."

Despite the principal's views, Quansah said she wants her to niece to learn that "beauty starts from within."

 

[the cac mamba]

principal Tracey Barnes, a black woman

 

[CASHAPP]

Good thing OP didn't put this thread in TLR.

With that being said whoever this principal should be damn ashamed and I hope she is at least scared to show her face. Especially in a climate such as today when we are supposed to be sticking together more often than ever before. Even the biggest Aunt Jemimas and c00ns who are constantly clowning and making fun of Black features especially hair, you would rarely see them do something like this. Even they don't go to the extreme she went.

 

[FLYINHAWAIIAN]

But but but Canada brehs

 

[↓R↑LYB]

 

[ReturnOfJudah]

Smh that c00n tried to check a real one

 

[CASHAPP]

This is the full post by the 8th grader's relative.

I wake up this morning to my sister telling me that my wonderful, beautiful niece was told that she needs to change her hair at school. (I recently crochet braided her hair.) The principal of Amesbury Middle School TRACEY BARNES told my niece that she needs to put her hair up, gave her a hair band/scrunchie/ponytail holder (whatever you'd like to call it) and repeatedly told her to do something about her hair. My niece challenged her and asked her why the students with 'good hair' aren't being told to put their hair up, but eventually, because she is a child who doesn't understand how fukking sick this work is, gave up and was reduced to tears in the office. My sister was then called and told that my niece's hair was *too poofy*, *unprofessional*, that *no one would hire her with hair like that*, and if *she were working in a store, no one would buy anything from her*. The principal also took the time to look up my sister's online presence, and told my sister that *seeing as how she is from St. Vincent, she would never wear her hair like that, so why would she let her daughter do so*. My niece was told that if she returns to school with her hair like this, she would have to stay in the office until she *does something about it*.

As I write this I am fuming, I am hurting, I am crying. This ignorant principal demonstrated firsthand the heartbreaking ideals of beauty that are forced on our little dark skinned black girls on a consistent basis. My heart is breaking for my niece and all the little girls like her who already know that there is an unspoken ideal for 'good hair', who already know that the darker your skin, the more undesirable you are lead to feel, that people will automatically write you off because of the way you look.

To my niece: I love you so much, and I'm sorry that you had to go through this. I'm even more sorry that this is just the beginning for you until something changes in this world.

To TRACEY BARNES: Why are you so occupied with my niece's hair to the point that you would disrupt her learning? As the principal of the school, would you not be more concerned with her ability to learn undisrupted rather than her looks? What values are you passing on to my niece when you pull her out of class/pull her to the side and talk to her about superficial, shallow things like hair, instead of WHAT SHE IS THERE TO DO WHICH IS LEARN?! I would like to know what gives you the authority to be the decision maker on stunting my nieces' dreams by telling her that she cannot achieve careers based off her looks? TRACEY BARNES why are you projecting your SELF HATE onto my niece?

TRACEY BARNES love yourself, and allow my niece to do the same.

 

[Queen]

This is the full post by the 8th grader's relative.

I wake up this morning to my sister telling me that my wonderful, beautiful niece was told that she needs to change her hair at school. (I recently crochet braided her hair.) The principal of Amesbury Middle School TRACEY BARNES told my niece that she needs to put her hair up, gave her a hair band/scrunchie/ponytail holder (whatever you'd like to call it) and repeatedly told her to do something about her hair. My niece challenged her and asked her why the students with 'good hair' aren't being told to put their hair up, but eventually, because she is a child who doesn't understand how fukking sick this work is, gave up and was reduced to tears in the office. My sister was then called and told that my niece's hair was *too poofy*, *unprofessional*, that *no one would hire her with hair like that*, and if *she were working in a store, no one would buy anything from her*. The principal also took the time to look up my sister's online presence, and told my sister that *seeing as how she is from St. Vincent, she would never wear her hair like that, so why would she let her daughter do so*. My niece was told that if she returns to school with her hair like this, she would have to stay in the office until she *does something about it*.

As I write this I am fuming, I am hurting, I am crying. This ignorant principal demonstrated firsthand the heartbreaking ideals of beauty that are forced on our little dark skinned black girls on a consistent basis. My heart is breaking for my niece and all the little girls like her who already know that there is an unspoken ideal for 'good hair', who already know that the darker your skin, the more undesirable you are lead to feel, that people will automatically write you off because of the way you look.

To my niece: I love you so much, and I'm sorry that you had to go through this. I'm even more sorry that this is just the beginning for you until something changes in this world.

To TRACEY BARNES: Why are you so occupied with my niece's hair to the point that you would disrupt her learning? As the principal of the school, would you not be more concerned with her ability to learn undisrupted rather than her looks? What values are you passing on to my niece when you pull her out of class/pull her to the side and talk to her about superficial, shallow things like hair, instead of WHAT SHE IS THERE TO DO WHICH IS LEARN?! I would like to know what gives you the authority to be the decision maker on stunting my nieces' dreams by telling her that she cannot achieve careers based off her looks? TRACEY BARNES why are you projecting your SELF HATE onto my niece?

TRACEY BARNES love yourself, and allow my niece to do the same.

But The Coli told me that black women are just self haters who want to be white. There is no historical context or societal pressure for black women to alter their natural hair texture.

On a more serious note, that is awful for that girl. Now that it is public she might be even more embarrassed. I hope she is able to find a peaceful and supportive learning environment.

 

[Lana del Rey]

Her hair is beautiful though

 

[CASHAPP]

This sounds trivial but I really wanna see a picture of this principal and hear her talk to see if she still defends what she did.

 

[newworldafro]

This sounds trivial but I really wanna see a picture of this principal and hear her talk to see if she still defends what she did.

 

[Mook]

congrats on her millions in future lawsuits.

 

[hashmander]

when i read the title i said to myself: betcha the principal is a black woman.

 

[agnosticlady]

“I didn’t see what the big deal was about my hair because it wasn’t bothering anybody,” the young girl told City News. “I was just doing my work, so I didn’t see why I had to be pulled out of the class.”
"

And when I said that some black women contribute a lot to the self hatred that young black children develop I got told that I was pandering. I recently left my job at a cosmetic department store. A lot of the things that I would see black women say towards kinky natural hair was sad and disgusting. I remember one woman coming in with her son and daughter. Her son has thick kinky beautiful hair. Do you know how many people of any race would love to hair thick hair like that? Anyways the mother says that she wants to make her sons hair curly so that she can comb it. I told her that she can deep condition the hair, wash it out, and put the sons hair in jumbo braids and then unbraid. With a look of disgust she told me that her son has very nappy hair (the daughter started laughing and the son looked like he was about to cry). I kept telling her that the ONLY way to permanently change someones hair texture from kinky to loose curly is using a texturizer. She gets mad and tells me that I have no idea what I am talking about. I told her that I have the same exact hair texture as her son so I know how to take care of hair like that. She dismisses me and goes to my coworker and get's told the same thing.

 

[mbewane]

Girls can be boys and vice-versa but black girls can't have "poofy" hair