This Teacher's Note About A Black Student's Hair Is Beyond Offensive

Teacher sends home wildly insensitive note about a black student’s hair

A mom found herself on the receiving end of an incredibly offensive note from her daughter’s teacher. The note suggested the child was being teased by fellow students because of the scent of coconut oil from her hair. The mom decided to share it on Facebook, where it quickly went viral.

Tionna Norris posted the note from daughter Amia’s teacher to express her disgust and anger over her words.

It reads:

Dear Tionna,

I understand the necessary of coconut oil on Amia’s hair, but please do not use as much. The children were complaining that her hair “stinks.” If you have to apply this daily – please do so lightly, so the kid’s don’t tease her.

Thank you for your understanding

Sincerely Carol

First of all, Carol needs to go back to school herself because this note leaves much to be desired in the way of grammar and the proper structure of a letter. Sit down, Carol.

She also needs a lesson in not singling out a student for wearing product in her hair that a lot of black children use. That, by the way, doesn’t even smell, as Norris and several Facebook commenters point out. Hell, I use it on my hair and skin because it hardly leaves a scent. This teacher is not only a total asshole, she’s wrong.

Norris’ caption proves she isn’t taking this lying down, suggesting that she has no intention of toning down the coconut oil she uses to moisturize her daughter’s gorgeous, natural, curly hair. She also mentions in the comments of her initial post that she’s meeting with the school to discuss the situation saying, “So the kids were bullying my child so you send ME a letter? How does that make sense.”

Um, it absolutely doesn’t.

Even if the oil did smell (it doesn’t) and even if the kids were teasing her (they weren’t, but we’ll get to that in a minute) it’s not on the child being bullied to change her behavior. It’s on the kids doing the bullying. If that were the case, this “teacher” needed to approach and discipline the children giving Amia a hard time rather than request that the child or her mother do anything to change how they care for her hair.

Norris posted an update in the comments after her meeting with administrators, and as it turns out, it was only Carol who had an issue with Amia’s hair product. She recounts, “The kids never said anything, this had everything to do with the teacher and how she felt about Amia’s hair. If someone is teasing my child about her hair you TEACH those children! Even if the coconut oil does stink (which is doesn’t) you have no right to tell a black mother how to care for her daughters hair because that is what she needs.”

Yes to all of that. And from the sounds of it, good old Carol is being a bit low-key racist or at the very least, beyond tone-deaf in her handling of this situation. This mom is totally right to be furious about it.

Norris posted an update on Thursday saying Amia has been pulled from the school and that Carol still doesn’t really seem to get it.

Of course, she has to do what’s right for her daughter, but it’s infuriating that because of a teacher’s totally insensitive words, a child has to start over at another school. Hopefully, the original post being shared will help educate others and maybe, just maybe, Carol.

H/T Babble