Andrew Johnson and the Haircut Seen Around the World
I would like to say that I saw the video of Andrew Johnson, a black student athlete for Buena Regional High School in New Jersey, getting an impromptu haircut in front of an entire gymnasium crowd by his own coaches and was completely shocked at the audaciousness of it all. I would be lying. In a nation that considers having dreads, dreadlocks, braids, twists, and many other uniquely black hairstyles to be reasonable grounds to hire or not hire a candidate for a job, I would daresay we have come to expect this type of behavior. Even so, that expectation does not diminish the outrage we feel each time that one of us suffers an injustice.
Andrew was set to compete in a match when Referee Alan Maloney stopped him and informed him that his hair cover was not sufficient. Instead of allowing the wrestler to obtain an alternative cover, Maloney forced the teen to cut his hair or lose the match via forfeit. According to Mike Frankel, sports director for SNJ Today News, the wrestler’s coaches did step in to argue the referee’s decision for several minutes until Maloney started the injury time clock. At that point, Johnson reluctantly chose to cut his hair, won the match, and the dejectedly walked off the mat. The important victory for Johnson and his team should have been a celebration but left the teen feeling hollow and stripped of his dignity. A patron…
