by Rafael Pena
March 21, 2024
A Black scholar enrolled at BYU-Hawaii finds himself embroiled in a dispute with the establishment over hair coverage, which targets his locs.
The Guardian reported that Kanaan VyShonne Barton, a Black scholar enrolled at Brigham Younger College-Hawaii (BYU), finds himself embroiled in a dispute with the establishment over its hair coverage, which he claims targets his shoulder-length locs, a cultural image he refuses to chop.
Since September, Barton has been at odds with BYU-Hawaii employees relating to the size of his hair, which he maintains is spiritually important and emblematic of his cultural heritage. Regardless of the varsity’s requirement for “neatly trimmed” hair in its honor code, Barton contends that his locs maintain deep private and cultural significance, representing his identification and ancestry.
“Whatever the size of my hair, I’m spiritually concerned. I’m actively going to church,” Barton asserted in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune. “However my locs imply one thing to me. They’re tradition. They’re household. I shouldn’t have to chop my hair to get an training right here.”
BYU-Hawaii, a satellite tv for pc campus of Brigham Younger College, operates beneath the umbrella of the Church of Latter-Day Saints and enforces a strict honor code that governs numerous elements of scholar habits, together with grooming requirements. Whereas the code stipulates that hair needs to be “clear, neat, modest, and keep away from extremes in kinds and colours,” it lacks particular steerage on size.
In a gathering with Jonathan Kalaonalani Kau, the vp for scholar life, Barton alleges Kau instructed him to trim his locs, deeming them “a distraction” and accusing Barton of “pushing his personal agenda and being defiant.”
As a compromise, Barton has begun to model his locs in a fashion that retains them above the collar, however he stays adamant about preserving their integrity. He views his locs as a logo of power, braveness, and freedom, deeply rooted in his household’s heritage as Afro-Guyanese Individuals.
The incident underscores broader problems with cultural sensitivity and inclusivity inside BYU establishments, notably in mild of a 2021 inner report revealing that many Black, Indigenous, and different individuals of coloration college students really feel remoted and unsafe attributable to experiences with racism.
Whereas BYU has made efforts to handle previous racial biases, together with disavowing earlier teachings associating blackness with divine disfavor, Barton’s case highlights ongoing tensions between institutional insurance policies and the cultural identities of scholars of coloration.
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