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File this under: When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong.
This story comes to you by way of Elegant Ignance -- meet seven year old Lamya Cammon. When she's nervous or bored, she plays with the beads at the end of her braids. And one day at school, her new teacher wasn't having it.
Since that original report, Essence.com caught up with Lamya's mother, Helen Cunningham for more details on the outrageous incident. Apparently this teacher didn't think she'd done anything wrong, because she was frustrated with the child's behavior, and because she didn't think Lamya's hair was actually her own natural hair.
Oh, so it's OK to just cut off a microbraid or an extension, to put a little girl in her place? Where they do that at?
Milwaukee Public Schools gave the teacher a $175 citation for disorderly conduct. I'm not one to advocate ignorance or violence, but if that had been my little girl, I may have caused some disorderly conduct myself. Having done a little teaching, I know it can be incredibly frustrating trying to reach a student who is disengaged or not paying close enough attention. But seriously, there had to be a better way to get this seven-year-old to behave, that didn't end with a pair of scissors and tears.
What do you think the teacher should have done? And what would you have done, if you were Lamya's mother?
Comments: (53)
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By: Delorea on 1/02/2010 7:08AM
Clearly the teacher is in the wrong business, I would like to see that bitch cut off a teenager braids , she would have got her ass kicked,
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By: Aphrodite on 1/11/2010 11:39AM
I think the problem is cultural understanding. In black culture, plenty of children wear their hear in beaded braids. I did as a child, and I remember hearing the clicking noises and feeling pretty, much like a little girl with pearls. Many white people do not understand it and/or do not aesthetically like the look, but it is not acceptable for them to touch a child's hair.
In addition, hair in black cultures is prized much more highly than it is in white culture. Our hair does not grow the same way, and it can be very difficult for us to cultivate it into a longer length--therefore, by that teacher cutting that little girls' hair, she is destroying a source of pride for that little girl. The psychological damage will be very, very deep.
That said, we should not be saying "oh I would kick that teacher's azz" or whatever. Violence will get you nowhere, and that would be the worst thing to teach that little girl--that violence is the answer to someone bothering you. She would be expelled by age 15.The solution is to discuss with the little girl what the teacher did wrong, and the proper way to handle that situation next time (i.e., go to the counselor's office, whatever" so that she can begin to heal and to not feel so helpless when being confronted.
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By: nurse on 2/02/2010 3:35PM
I would like my girls teacher to get that happy
i know when I done with her she will be afraid to touch her own her.
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