The mother of a Camden, New Jersey, high school student went on the defensive two weeks ago when her daughter was told she could not wear a Nigerian headwrap to school. And after Chioma Sullivan expressed her irritation on Facebook Live, the school has responded.
Sullivan took to the social media platform Feb. 11 after she picked up 17-year-old Geniah Miller from Camden Academy Charter High School. In the video, she took aim at the administrators for their response to Geniah’s headwear.
“Today I am pissed, pissed to the top,” she begins. “My daughter was sent to the office because she looks like this today. She was given an ultimatum. … Either you take it off, you go home or you go to in-house suspension. … This school is primarily Hispanic and they are always catered to. There is one month for these kids that look like me, her, to get to express their history. And this was the alternative for her.
“I am pissed,” Sullivan says beginning to cry. “Pisssed. … I’ll be damned if I make her go to in-house suspension for expressing our black culture. … She didn’t do anything wrong! She was expressing who we are and she should be allowed to do that!”
Sullivan, who also alleged there have been other racial incidents at the school, vowed to contact the media and the school board.
Geniah, who was in her full school uniform that day, later explained to Fox 29 that she was questioned by the school’s principal, Dara Ash, about her appearance. When the teen explained about her headscarf, she was told to remove it.
“She looked at me weird, she was like, ‘What is that on your head?’ in a sarcastic way,” the high school senior, who had previously been suspended for dancing during a fire drill, explained.
“’It’s my Nigerian head wrap,”’Geniah recalled telling Ash. According to the student, the principal responded, “No, not today. You’re not wearing it.”
“The way she came at me and what she said to me was hurtful, especially when other students were around,” she said.
The school’s handbook prohibits students from wearing “bandanas, hair-nets, scarves, and/or any excessive, large headwear,” but there is no specific punishment outlined for wearing them.
In response to Sullivan’s issues, Joseph Conway, founder and chief school administrator of the school, sent a notice to parents who may have seen Sullivan’s live stream.
“Individual expression of clothing is not permitted with the exception of adjustments due to the religious beliefs of our students,” the notice read. “This is well known throughout the student body and amongst the parents/guardians who entrust their students to us on a daily basis…
“Sadly, there has been a great deal of misinformation on social media in the past days revolving around Camden Academy Charter High School and our Principal, Ms. Ash. The entirety of the matter can be summed up as a violation of the Uniform Policy that was handled appropriately and professionally by Ms. Ash.
“Instead of working within our school community to address the matter of a uniform violation, the events have been turned into a social media frenzy,” the statement went on. “Much of the social media discussion has become a personal attack on Ms. Ash as well as the situation being one of race and Black History Month. This is an unfortunate twisting of the truth and we respectfully ask that the matter be put to rest on social media. This commentary on social media serves as a distraction to the education of our children.”
My child was given 3 alternatives for expressing Black History Month- for wearing an African head wrap1. Remove it.2. Sit in in-house suspension.3. Get picked up.😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
Posted by Chioma Sullivan on Monday, February 11, 2019