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A Black girl in New Jersey was allegedly prohibited from playing in a high school basketball game because of her hairstyle, the Gothamist reports.
The alleged incident occurred at a high school basketball game on January 4 between schools in the Maplewood-South Orange and Caldwell West districts. Two referees, who were white, allegedly prohibited the girl from playing with beads in hair, Aaron Breitman, head coach of the Columbia High School varsity basketball team, said.
Players attempted to tie the girl's hair back multiple times so the refs would let her play.
“The student in question was clearly upset. She was embarrassed and the rest of the team was very confused,” Breitman said. “And in all honesty, it took away from the first quarter of the game. We started off very slow because the game was no longer our focus."
The girl was allowed to enter the game in the second quarter after Columbia High School coaches told the refs that “beads and other hard objects are allowed in their hair so long as they’re secured" according to the rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Acting Superintendent of Maplewood-South Orange School District Kevin F. Gibert said the act was a violation of New Jersey's CROWN Act, which bans hair discrimination.
“I was shocked when I learned that one of our very own student-athletes was subjected to the same discrimination that New Jersey’s CROWN Act was established to prevent,” Gilbert said in a statement.
Gilbert also filed a racial bias complaint with the NJSIAA, the association that enforces rules for high school sports throughout New Jersey.
Christopher Conklin, the superintendent of the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District, declined to comment on the current investigation.
“However, our staff is fully cooperating with the NJSIAA’s investigation into the complaint made by the [Maplewood-South Orange School District],” Conklin said in a statement.
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