A durag is defined as a piece of cloth that is worn on the head to cover hair. To the people that don’t wear them, that’s all they are, a piece of cloth that one wraps around their head. To the people that do wear them, it has a whole other meaning. Its purpose is to protect the hair pattern commonly referred to today as, “waves”. This is supposed to prevent your previously brushed down hair from reverting to its natural, tightly coiled form from being exposed overtime. Although no one is credited with actually inventing the durag, the tie of the cloth has been a timeless look, while the actual first selling of the cloth didn’t occur until the late 70’s. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, the utilization of the headpiece started to become mainstream, and by now, it has classified as a staple in music genres such as hip hop and is a large contributor in the fashion industry. The question that should be asked doesn’t have to do with the escalation of the garments popularity, but why Hall High School went along with the initiative to ban them.

Throughout the hallways of Hall High, innocent students were confused as to why they were being yelled at for their durags, so we set out to learn when and why this rule was being enforced. We set up an interview with Dan Zittoun, the principle of Hall High School, so that he could familiarize us with what is occurring. “With the whole modernization of the dress code, there have been many changes before the first day of school.” Mr. Zittoun said, but the rule on durags is different, since it is the most controversial implemented in recent years. Mr. Zittoun continues, “We have always allowed durags, even though other schools weren’t allowing it.” Even though this is true we questioned why he began to enforce it now, rather than beginning on the first day of school. “In  the past month, an administrator from the Board of Education visited our school and began questioning us why we still were allowing it.” This caused it grow from a school wide situation, to a district problem. Since it was introduced after Thanksgiving of 2018, there wasn’t any official announcement so now students have been surprised by administrators enforcing the rule. So how has this new school divided the school?

Strong opinions have been heard throughout the Hall community with one prevailing. The West Hartford Board of Education stands to back up their decision of banning durags with supportive arguments. Officer Rivera, one of Hall’s security guards, was able to spread the Boards’ thoughts to our journalist, “The rule was created for mostly identification purposes.”Keeping the school safe has been a top priority, but do durags become a threat to community safety? Officer Womer stated, “There could be gang affiliation on hats and such.” This is against the Hall dress code and would not be allowed if this is what the students were trying to portray by choosing to wear a head cap like a durag at school. After various students were asked if the durag has any gang affiliation, we were not shocked to see the response of everyone affected, “They are simply to keep our hair in place throughout the day. I am familiar with the school dress code, and don’t wear anything that could be a distraction from my point of view,” one of Hall’s underclassmen stated.

The majority of the student body, and some staff have become increasingly vocal behind their reasoning on why the implementation on the banning of durags, even Mr. Zittoun has been against this rule, but has to compromise to be equal with the other schools in the district. One reason why a majority of students have been against this new rule is what Jason Hoops, a Senior at Hall, perfectly states while answering the question is it a fair rule? “I don’t think so since its not distracting or effecting the school environment, it’s also diminishing quality of student life.” Many students agreed on how they believe it is targeting a certain culture, believing that even though we don’t need to wear durags, it is still limiting the freedom of expression of students, and not putting anyone in danger. As Maya Borden, a senior at Hall blatantly puts it, “No, because it is targeting black people. It’s like telling girls they can’t curl their hair.” Daidrien Ramoas, a senior at Hall who is personally affected by the new rule had this to say when asked how he felt about it; “Its kinda dumb because of the fact that our school is big on expressing ourselves and even changed a rule (dress code) for girls so they can better express themselves. I feel like they are targeting a certain group and it’s not ok.” Daidrien has also told me that he and his friends have a meeting planned with Mr. Zittoun, in hopes to get the rule changed.

As stated earlier by Officer Womer, “The rule was created for mostly identification purposes.” Although there has been constant backlash since the rule change, their is unlikely going to be a reversal of the rule at the upcoming meeting to discuss the problem. The Board of Education has discussed and voted on the rule change, deeming it appropriate to ban the durags implying their are true concerns of safety posed with students wearing these head caps on school property.