Tuskegee University Bans Bonnets And Du-Rags On Campus

Black people, especially here in the U.S., have a complicated relationship with presentability. Historically, we’ve been looked down upon as a collective, no matter what we’re wearing. A lot of Black people will note that Martin Luther King Jr. was wearing a suit when a rabid white man assassinated him. I’m not sure I like that reasoning since King was killed because of the work he was doing and the systemic racism he led a fight against — not because someone mistook him for a thug due to baggy clothing or a head scarf — but the point still stands that adhering to a largely white and Western standard for how one should dress in public certainly won’t save us from the prejudice that also comes with that standard.

I’m not even sure if there’s a societal frame of reference for respectability politics as it relates to white people and other racial groups, but for Black people, it’s a 400-year plague that has infected many of us with deeply colonized mentalities. But whatever, Black people can think what they want; the problem arises when they start making policy around it in Black institutions.

So, let’s talk about this new dress code banning bonnets and du-rags in classrooms and the cafeteria at Tuskegee University.

So, first, it should be noted that, according to AL.com, Tuskegee’s updated dress code also prohibits students from wearing house shoes and “revealing clothing” and mandates that students attending professional events or business meetings must wear business suits and appropriate footwear. Tuskegee President Dr. Mark A. Brown said the changes aim to give students a “solid foundation for the workforce they will enter once they leave Tuskegee” rather than limit their college experience. But do they actually do the former and not the latter?

I wonder if Brown, the other administrators at Tuskegee, or any of the Black people on social media who agree with the new policy — and there are many of them — have actually witnessed or even heard about a college graduate showing up to a job interview or business meeting in a bonnet or du-rag and slippers. Certainly, this must be a real, non-delusional concern of theirs due to a totally-non-fictional phenomenon that is reflected in reality — otherwise, we’re just talking about students going to class and to lunch dressed comfortably, and one might get the impression that these blushing negroes just don’t like seeing certain aspects of Black existence being on display where everyone else can see us.

Remember when the killing of Trayvon Martin by racist neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman started off as a discussion about systemic racism, racial profiling, and the inherent white supremacy of “stand your ground” laws, until it devolved into a debate around whether Trayvon should’ve been wearing a hoodie in the first place? That might have been a discussion that began in the Caucasian world of justifying violent Black death at the hands of bigoted vigilantes, but it’s one that also included white-gaze-fearing Black people warning other Black people about the dangers of hooded casual wear and how we should abstain from it even when we’re doing something as mundane as walking home from the corner store. The implication there is that Trayvon might still be alive if the sweater he was wearing was hoodless, and the Black people who were subjecting their own to such warnings purported to be looking out for our collective best interest then, too. But were they merely looking out for their own in the interest of our collective safety, or was Trayvon’s story simply the excuse they needed to reinforce their own disgust with Black people not adhering to their conservative views on how we should assimilate, mirroring that of our white counterparts?

But you know what, let’s stick to the subject at hand, which, by the way, is far from unique to Tuskegee, as respectability politics are an issue at HBCUs across the country, unfortunately, regardless of how often the richness and fullness of Black culture is on display at these institutions.

Again, Tuskegee’s new dress code policy is part of a larger policy that, to its credit, does have practical applications as well. For example, the new policy holds that students must keep cellphones turned off during class unless professors give specific permission to use them, and it requires the university to monitor attendance more closely, “viewing regular class participation as essential to academic success, according to the updated policy,” as AL.com reported.

Now, see, these policies might actually help with the fact that at Tuskegee University, only 29% – 31% of students finish on time within four years, only 57% – 61% of students complete their bachelor’s degrees within six years, and the fact that roughly 20% to nearly 30% of 73% – 81% of first-year students fail to return for their sophomore year, according to the U.S. News and World Report.

But, no, no — I’m sure student retention and performance will improve greatly now that administrators are telling them they need to be in a button-down shirt and slacks when they go to class, and to leave their protective head coverings in their dorms.

Good luck with all that.

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Tuskegee University Bans Bonnets And Du-Rags On Campus. Let’s Talk About It was originally published on newsone.com