A 15-year-old Baytown, Texas high school student claims her cheer coach harassed her about her hair for over a year.
KTRK ABC 13 reports that Ross S. Sterling High School varsity cheerleader Kemirah Jn-Marie would not be able to cheer at last Saturday’s football game because of her braids.
In the news clip, Kemirah says she feels singled out because she is the only Black person on the squad.
“The coach makes it hard to be on varsity,” she tells reporters. “She makes me feel bad about myself.”
The hair policy states that hair should be “pulled back in a secure pony tail” and “must not distract from the cheer environment.”
Subsequently, the teen put her braids into a pony tail but they were still an issue.
“I said, ‘If that’s the case, put it in writing. Just put it in writing,'” says Kemirah’s mother Mayra Jn-Marie.
However, the policy does not prohibit braids. And the school district refused to write a rule prohibiting the hairstyle.
The Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District spokesperson Beth Dombrowa said the student could still perform.
Furthermore, the cheerleader was only warned about the hair, not “punished.”
Kemirah preformed Saturday without changing her hair.
