Essence.com: 7 Year Old’s Mother Speaks Out on Confronting the Teacher Who Cut Off Her Daughter’s Braided Hair

On the Web

by Lamar Tyler | on December 17th, 2009 | 12 comments

lamya

Essence.com had an exclusive interview with the mother of the child we talked about yesterday. Her daughter was the 7 year old student who had a braid cut off by the teacher because she kept playing with her hair. To see our original article with video of the story including the girl and her mom click here.

Essence.com excerpt:

ESSENCE.com: Tell us what happened.
HELEN CUNNINGHAM: My daughter went to school. It was the Monday after Thanksgiving and she had gotten her hair beaded over the vacation. She was twirling her beads in her hair and her teacher told me that she advised her to not twirl her beads. Lamya kept doing it and her teacher told her if she kept doing it, she will hold her back from recess. She told me that she did hold her back from recess and after recess Lamya still kept twirling her beads. This is when the teacher called her to the front of classroom.

My daughter told me that her teacher told her that she was going to give her some candy. When she came up to the desk, the teacher grabbed the scissors and grabbed a braid and cut it off. She then told her, if you keep doing it, “I am going to cut some more.” My daughter started crying because her classmates were laughing at her.

On the Elementary teacher’s lack of recognizance:
ESSENCE.com: Was the teacher apologetic?
CUNNINGHAM: No, because she felt like what she did wasn’t wrong.

ESSENCE.com: Why do you say that?
CUNNINGHAM: She kept saying, “I didn’t cut her hair,” “I cut this part.” And I said, “that is her hair.” Her hair is actually long. I think some of the teachers are used to a lot of little girls wearing microbraids or extensions. And that is another thing that was brought up. She was trying to say that she didn’t know that was her real hair.

For the complete interview you can go to Essence.com.

About the author

Lamar and Ronnie Tyler are the creators of the award-winning blog BlackandMarriedWithKids.com . They also are behind the Amazon.com bestselling DVDs Happily Ever After: A Positive Image of Black Marriage, You Saved Me and Men Ain’t Boys that explores manhood in the African American community. The Tylers are also the proud parents of four children.

Tasha

PerSonally i think teachers go to far.if they dont have the patience for the kids find another job.the child is only 7.The mother a good woman cause i would have flipped hard on that teacher..bet they wldve gave me more than a fine
http://yahoo Debra

After she went to the proper authorities and nothing was done she should have gotten herself a pair of electric clipper and waited for her to get off work and shaved her head bald to see how she felt with her hair cut since all they did was give her a fine . My comment is putting it nicely because i would have done a little more than that to her. I also think that maybe she needs to get a lawyer.
Judas

The teacher went across her boundries as an educator.
Dee

The teacher needs to be counseled on what is appropriate discipline. The child needs to have her butt whooped for being disobedient, and everyone who is speaking about what they would do to the teacher needs to calm down!! She cut her her hair, she didnt stab her! Teachers are not allowed to touch children in anger for discipline period, but neither are parents allowed to harm the teacher. This kid wont be scarred for life because she had her braid cut. It happened, it doesnt call for a class action suit, it doesnt call for a boycott or picketing of the schools, it doesnt call for a escalation of hostility. As a side note, many of you on this site are old enough to remember when a teacher or a principal or a nun, would whoop your butt or your hands with a ruler if you acted up, and then your mother or father would whoop your butt when you got home if you acted up. I am not saying that that was right (Lord knows it hurt at the time!), but generations of kids grew up with a healthy respect for authority because of that. No I am not calling for that, but what I AM calling for is for us not to stereotypically overreact.
MrsT

I totally agree with Dee, the teacher was 100% dead wrong, but there is no reason the teacher should have had to ask that child multiple times and take away her recess before she stopped and then she STILL kept going. If the work makes her that nervous then maybe she needs to be evaluated. Other than that she was just being hard headed.
michael

I’ve been following this for a the couple of days. It’s a shame. First off, I think it’s wrong to blame the child. She has longer hair and the braids had just been beaded. Beads are going to make sounds. I’m not sure if she was getting used to them or not but it seems like the teacher was asking the impossible to begin with since the hair was/is going to make some noise. Secondly, nobody has the right to put their hand on any child in a violent manner. Teacher should have phoned home first if it bothered her that much. She had no right to humiliate that child. I have to wonder if she would have treated a upper middle class white, daughter of a Doctor, in the manner she treated this child. I’m sure a lot of you do too. This whole thing reeks of entitlement on the white teachers part. The parents should demand some actions. Doing so is not stereotypical. It’s necessary to teach that woman that black children are not to be manhandled willy nilly because they as whites feel they can. Three hundred and fifty years of that was more than enough thank you very much.
Anna

“She didn’t know that was her real hair”. I could tell it was her real hair, give me a break. It did not matter if that was her real hair or not, it was on her head. Are they hiding this womens idenity? I want to know what she looks like. I want to know if she has children, I want to know if she has prior accusations. You don’t go to work and cause harm to “your students”. SMH.
JKel

Hell to da NAW!!!! How many times when we were little kids we played with scissors, clippers and razors and somehow made the mistake of cutting our hair and got in serious trouble for it (whether a butt whoopin or punishment)??? If it wasn’t u, I’m sure u knew somebody who did. Nothing…and I mean NOTHING…gives her the right to cut anybody’s hair. If she had a problem with tapping her nails on the desk and the teacher tells her repeatedly to stop and she doesn’t…does that give a teacher the right to go and cut her fingernails????…NO!!!!! I’m all for kids respecting authority and knowing their place, but some things are for the parents to get involved…whatever happened to sending them to the Principal’s office???? I dont’ care what color u r…some things u just don’t do and that was one of em! It’s been plenty of times I had to deal with other people’s hair blowing in my face in crowded places, such as the train or bus station and plenty of times I wish I had scissors, because no matter how many times you gesture to them that their hair keeps blowing in your face, they still ignore u…now…does that give me the right to reach in my purse and pull out the scissors???
Anna

LOL @ Jkl. If we all acted on “impule” this world would be a mess.
Fatimah

This is crazy. What would give the teacher the audacity to cut any child’s hair for any reason. Does not matter if the hair was real or fake. This teacher had some other issues going on and she used this look girl to take out frustration. Straight up ridiculous.
charlene Jones

This teacher, has more than an anger management problem. She is a threat to all of the other students,and to society. The little girl should not have been moved , the teacher should have been charged with assault. There are racial undertones to this story. “An injustice to one is a threat to justice for everyone.” We must do something! I am calling the school district and the DA’s office. I will follow up with my community and with the churches here in Chicago. What kind of message are we all sending if we stay silent! What would have happened if the mother,(who by the way is totally ignorant of her child’s rights), what if she would have cut the front of the teacher’s hair, you know , and just blamed it on stress. ? What would she have been charged with? Better yet what if a Black teacher would have cut off the front of a little white girl’s hair? Would the school have just blamed it on stress? What if it would have been “your child” or “your grandchild”? You know your child could be next if you stay silent………
sariah

that was so dumb i would have drug that lady so many way