Manning’s denies hair discrimination
Published:Thursday | July 8, 2021 | 12:11 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Correspondence denouncing the wearing of African Bantu knots by graduates of Manning’s School in Westmoreland two weeks ago was not evidence of a discriminatory hair policy, principal Steve Gordon has said.
The western Jamaica school came under fire on social media on the weekend when the circular, which allowed the wearing of Eurocentric extensions, was issued.
Students participating in the photo session for the school-leaving exercise were told, “No Bantu Knots/Chiney Bump.”
But the school says it had a valid reason.
“The guidelines would have been in place to reduce the level of difficulty in trying to fit mortarboards on some of the elaborate hairstyles that students want to wear, including Bantu knots that have been dramatically enhanced by the addition of artificial hair,” Gordon told The Gleaner Wednesday evening.
The principal said that it was unfortunate that the information being circulated was being interpreted as discrimination.
“The school certainly does not hold any biases against students of African descent or from any particular descent or religion. There is no basis for anyone to think, or to suggest, that this is so,” said Gordon.
He said Manning’s allows students to wear hairstyles that fall in line with the school’s grooming policy, including those associated with various religious and ethnic persuasions, accommodating Rastafarianis, Muslims, and persons of African descent. Gordon said that one of the school’s recent head boys was a Rastafarian.
Historically, Bantu knots stirred strife between parents and school administrators who have bristled against certain Afrocentric hairstyles.
The Ministry of Education issued a grooming policy in 2018 that gives schools latitude in determining hairstyle standards.
This is the second time this week that Manning’s has found itself in hot water.
The school was criticised bitterly by New York’s City University Associate Professor Ahmed Reid, in a letter to The Gleaner on Monday, July 5, for describing enslaved people as “Manning’s 14 servants”.
Manning’s, established in 1738, is named after Westmoreland plantation owner Thomas Manning, who bequeathed a plot of land for a free school for the children of poor whites.
Planned restoration work will include the creation of a monument in honour of Mr Manning’s 14 slaves.
Manning’s is the second oldest continuously operated high school in Jamaica after Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Kingston.