THE ANCYL in Gauteng today commended the “bold stand” Pretoria High School for Girls pupils have taken against its code of conduct about hairstyles.
“The young girls have come out in their numbers to unambiguously and unashamedly say they do not want to be 'Becky with that good hair', their curly African hair is their pride,” spokesperson Mbali Hlophe said.
No child should be discriminated upon because of who they are. Discrimination based on hair texture was an injustice, and racist, said Hlophe.
“Straight hair which is predominantly associated with whiteness enjoys higher prestige and is more widely accepted in both professional and school settings,” Hlophe said.
It called on Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi to investigate schools and their policies and to protect black children.
Hlope said the ANCYL and its youth alliance partner, the Congress of SA Students, would visit and support the girls in their fight against an “unjust system”.
The EFF was deeply saddened that 22 years into democracy, there were still institutions that sought to suppress black aesthetics and culture.
Spokesman Fana Mokoena said this was the result of a society still struggling with transformation and failing to address white dominance.
"A white minority culture is still so dominant that it can decree on a black majority what they should look like and how they should behave. This culture is as old as slavery itself and does not belong in a democratic dispensation such as ours," he said.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/black-girls-dont-want-to-be-becky-with-that-good-hair-ancyl-20160829
