Black student, 16, forced to cut hair during softball game after white coach claimed beads blocked jersey number
A BLACK North Carolina student was forced to cut her hair during a softball game by her white coach.
Nicole Pyles revealed that the umpire told her the beads in her hair were blocking her jersey number - so her teammates had to cut them off.
"My team had wrapped the bottom of my hair where the beads were and at the top and stuffed into my sports bra so they couldn't move,"
"So I went out to play and that's when the ump basically said to my coach either I take the beads out or I can't play."
Pyles said that her team then "snatched" her beads out of her hair.
In some cases, they had to cut the beads out because they were so tight in her hair.
"Fix the policies for the black children so they won't be discriminated against," said her father, Julius, about the situation.
Pyles and her father are reportedly considering their legal options.
"DPS and the NC High School Athletic Association must pass policies that ensure that hair discrimination will not happen again to another black girl, whether on the softball field or in the classroom," they said, in a statement.
They also want apologies from Jordan High School Softball Coaches, the two umpires officiating the softball game and the NC High School Athletic Assosciation Supervisor of Officials, Mark Drelbelbis.
In a statement, Durham Public Schools said they "support the CROWN act."
They also defended the actions of the umpire, citing a blanket ban on things like visors.