“I don’t appreciate her repeatedly calling me aggressive which is a well-perpetuated Black female stereotype which has been put on all women of colour,” Amayah has said about Scash, per the ABC.
“I don’t appreciate her … disregard for my personal or mental wellbeing, or my education. She is an educator.”
Principal Melinda Scash told the ABC at the time that Amayah and Safhira were not welcome back to the school until they complied with the dress code. According to the ABC, she removed their access to online schoolwork and they couldn’t get in touch with teachers. Their mum Rebecca Rowe was also reportedly banned from the school’s premises.
“We are accommodating for their cultural requirements, but there are still uniform protocols that need to be followed,” Scash insisted.
“They have not been excluded from school. This is their choice.”
I’m pretty sure these students did not choose their heritage, race, appearance, hair style or what is and isn’t comfortable for them to wear. A policy that bans students from attending school if they wear their hair in a culturally significant style is straight up racist. And calling assertive women of colour “aggressive” is a form of tone policing, AKA getting caught up in the communication of an issue rather than its message. Is it seriously more important for a child to wear a specific Eurocentric hairstyle, no matter how painful, than it is for them to attend school?Rebecca made a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission. She claimed her daughters were being discriminated against because of their race, and told the ABC she felt the school’s response to the perceived uniform violation was “extreme”.
“[Scash] is holding their education ransom until they do what she says.
“I have asked her to revisit the uniform policy and take input from people of diverse cultural and gender backgrounds to make sure it is as inclusive as possible.”
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