Guest Opinion: Policing Black children's hair isn't youth soccer's job
The latest example of Black children being singled out as “other” in Bucks County happened recently on a soccer field in Perkasie, when a young girl was kicked out of the game because of how she wore her hair. Hasiyanah “Sassy” Wilson had beads in her hair; the referee said it wasn’t safe and she couldn’t play, even though Sassy’s parents had determined it was fine. Even after she wrapped her hair, so the beads were covered, the referee refused to let this 11-year-old back in the game.
There’s a long and painful history in our country of policing Black bodies and Black hair. It is part of the endless attempt to keep Black people feeling different, and other, and certainly inferior. Just a few years ago, a trainer chopped off the dreadlocks (locs) of a New Jersey high school wrestler in a mortifying ritual prior to a match. In North Carolina, a softball player was forced to cut her hair and remove her beads prior to a game. In both cases, the athletes had worn these hairstyles in previous matches with no issue. In Sassy’s case she had played in more than 10 other games with the beads with no comments or incidents until this referee pointed her out; said her hair was unsafe; ousted her; and embarrassed her as the only African American player.
Because of its tight coils and elasticity, Black hair has unique needs. It’s more susceptible to breakage and can’t be straightened without damage. Black people often wear braids, twists and locs to maintain healthy hair, as these styles can be worn for long stretches without constant manipulation. Black hair is also an important expression of identity and culture with deep emotional significance. What were referees telling Sassy and all the other Black children who play sports in Bucks County when they didn’t let her wear her hair as she and her parents chose for her to wear it?
This is enough of an issue, not only in sports, but in employment and education, that the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the CROWN Act (“Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair”). The act prohibits denial of employment and educational opportunities based on hair texture or protective hairstyles, such as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, etc.
It’s a shame we need a law to require people to live up to the American ideal and the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It’s not O.K. anymore to humiliate a child for the color of their skin, so the action has moved on to Black hair.
It's time for this to stop. Black kids deserve to play with the same adult support that white kids receive. The Inter-County Youth Soccer League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association and FIFA need to recognize the diversity in our communities, make changes that are inclusive of all children, and they must get this right.
Karen Downer is president of the NAACP Bucks County Branch.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Guest Opinion: Policing Black children's hair isn't youth soccer's job
