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School Dress Codes Ban Any Reasonable Black Hairstyle

If we've learned anything from Broadway musicals -- and we haven't -- it's that hair is important. And black hair is especially important. It's been used against people as a tool of oppression, held up as a symbol of culture, or simply stuffed under a hat, depending. So what happens when black children come up against school dress codes instituted by white people?

Good things? We hope it's good things.

Nope! At Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Massachusetts, staff gave 15-year-old twins Mya and Deanna Cook detention, banned them from prom, kicked them off the school's sports teams, and threatened them with suspension. Their crime: wearing hair extensions to class. The school said that extensions, along with makeup and nail polish, were against the dress code, in order to "reduce the wealth disparity among students." Yep, whenever we see someone with braids, our working-class lifestyle is shaken to its very foundation.

The Cook FamilyWARNING: The above image may cause society to collapse ... somehow.

In another case, a Kentucky high school sent parents an updated dress code policy which stated that "[Hairstyles] that are extreme, distracting, or attention getting will not be permitted. No dreadlocks, cornrows, twists, mohawks, and no jewelry will be worn in hair" as well as "afros more than two inches in length." You might recognize almost every item on that list as a common black hairstyle. Most of them are just low-maintenance, low-cost alternatives to other hairstyles. The dress code all but forces black girls to straighten their hair to conform to the "right" way. Or at least, something that rhymes with "right" ...

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Black Children Are More Inundated With Tobacco Ads, And Have Easier Access To Cigarettes

If you were paying attention in those mandatory third-grade assemblies, you know that tobacco is too-bad-co. Well, for white kids, at least. Various studies in larger cities, like LA and Boston, found that tobacco advertisements were more prevalent in African American neighborhoods. In fact, studies found that there were 2.6 times as many tobacco ads per person in areas with an African American majority, as compared to white areas.

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Black Children Are Perceived To Be Older Than They Are, And Are Punished More Harshly

Research shows that we perceive black girls as older, and therefore needing less nurturing and protection, than white girls their age. They were also perceived as more independent and knowledgeable about sex. Surely nothing bad could come of that ...

Applying adult standards to unprepared children has a few dire side effects, one of which is that schools are more likely to punish their black students. Another study showed that black girls were 3.6 times more likely to receive out-of-school suspension. Black boys are also perceived as older, are more likely to be thought of as guilty, and more frequently face police violence. A good example is Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old whom police opened fire on two seconds after arriving on the scene after a gun threat was called in.

Family of Tamir RiceWell, that's not a good example, but you get what we mean.

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Young Adult Book Covers Only Show White Characters

While we have definitely had huge issues in the past with black representation in children's books, things are getting better (kinda). But one strange problem persists: No matter what color the main character of the book is, the cover will almost definitely depict a white person.

Take the book Liar, which is about a biracial African American girl who wears her hair "naturally."

Bloomsbury USA ChildrensNailed it.

That is clearly a white girl with straight hair. Now, "biracial" comes in a lot of packages, but that wasn't what the author envisioned. The publisher had to change the cover after both the author and fans complained.

Bloomsbury USA Childrens“Guess we might as well finish designing the cover while we’re at it.”

The Crimson Moon series features another biracial protagonist, yet the covers all sport a white model who might be getting a tan as the series progresses.

St. Martin's PaperbacksIt doesn’t help that those covers look like self-published erotica.

Then there's Daughter Of The Centaurs, which takes place in Africa and features a character clearly described as having dark hair and skin.

Random House Books“Nonwhite centaurs? What is this, some kind of fantasy?!”

So if you're a nonwhite teen and want to read a book about someone a bit like you, good news! Those are out there. But, uh ... good luck finding it in the bookstore. Wait, that was stupid and reactionary of us -- good luck finding it on Amazon.

Follow Alyssa on Twitter, because she needs more followers. Joel Kirk resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is amused when people compare his features to those of actor John Boyega.

We're not even kidding, those books were kind of a pain to find on Amazon. We'd also like to recommend I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou because there's a lot of important stories about growing up black in it.

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For more check out 5 Realities Of Being A Mixed-Race Child When That's Illegal and I Was Raised As A Racist: 6 Weird Things I Learned.

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