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Students are having educational opportunities disrupted for simply being themselves. For embracing their blackness.

Patricia Okonta, a legal fellow at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, referring to school dress codes that prohibit hairstyles typically associated with black people, such as afros, braids, twists, and locks. California is on its way to becoming the first state to ban discrimination against natural hair.

Patricia Okonta, a legal fellow at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, referring to school dress codes that prohibit hairstyles typically associated with black people, such as afros, braids, twists, and locks. California is on its way to becoming the first state to ban discrimination against natural hair.  

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.