Texas teenager Deandre Arnold is being forced to choose between cutting off the locs he’s been growing since he was in the seventh grade or be banned from his own high school graduation ceremony. Arnold, who lives in the Houston suburb of Mont Belvieu, previously had a 10 year agreement with the Barbers Hill independent school district that allowed for his hair to be treated as an exemption to their dress code policy because of its spiritual and cultural significance. However, an amendment was recently passed whereupon Arnold has to cut his dreadlocks short enough to meet the district’s revised policy, or not be allowed to walk during graduation. The school district has been told they are in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as it pertains to religious beliefs. The district refuses to address the issue in the future.—TheGrio.com
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the widow of Cong. Elijah Cummings, said Donald Trump’s attack on her husband “hurt him at his worst moment,” and undermined her husband’s health. Cummings, who chaired the House Oversight Committee and was heavily involved in Trump’s impeachment inquiry, died five months after Trump tweeted his congressional district, including Baltimore, was a “disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess where no human being would want to live.” Those words, and hate mail by Trump supporters, came when Cummings was in the deepest throes of his illness. “Elijah was already battling health issues and so to have the president come out and do this at that time, you know … it really depressed him and it stressed him and I think it undermined his health.”—TheGrio.com
The United States Navy has named an aircraft carrier after decorated Black World War II hero Doris “Dorie” Miller, a first in the 244-year history of the Navy. Miller was the first Black American to earn the Navy Cross for exemplifying courage during the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. The ship will be named the USS Doris Miller. The name was revealed during a Martin Luther King, Jr. event by Acting Navy Sec. Thomas B. Modly. Miller, who worked as a cook on a ship, helped clear service members from the battleship USS West Virginia before it sank and is credited with emptying a machine gun at Japanese enemy forces. “In selecting this name, we honor the contributions of all our enlisted ranks, past and present, men and women, of every race, religion, and background,” Modly said.—TheGrio.com
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