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Comment by klyrs | Hacker News Reader

Several Sikhs went to my highschool, and men are forbidden from shaving or cutting their hair (kept in a turban, it was always above the collar). This wasn't a problem, as we were generally allowed to dress and style ourselves how we liked except for some rules around "decency" and "gang colors". But I've heard plenty of stories, even in the last few years, about Sikhs and black people getting punished for not adhering to various western norms

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Yeah, these rules might not have bad intention but they get dicey when you broaden who they apply to.

I never forgot this story from 2018 about a black police officer suing over a requirement to be clean-shaven every day.

> Officers have to be clean cut, except for mustaches or short sideburns. Joseph Lewis, a six-year vet of the force, however, suffered from razor bumps, which made it painful to shave. The condition is common in about 60 percent of African-American men or people with coarse, curly hair, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.

https://newsone.com/3780050/racial-discrimination-shaving-fa...

Afaik the US military used to mandate a buzzcut for new recruits that was recently dropped because it causes a lot of issues for black recruits (curly hair).

Any more details? Black people have been in the military for a very long time now. And I see a lot with short hair.

I think they are referring to shaving beards, which is known to cause issues for black people.

The US military issues medical waivers for these things. It was very common for African-American males (and some others who have justification) to be on a medical waivers (simply referree to as shaving waivers) to not shave when I served. It's not really an issue, or at least it wasn't 20 years ago.

It seems the USAF is now issuing these waivers with 5 year terms. [0].

[0]: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/06/24...

Aren't their anti discrimination laws which should prevent such very obvious discrimination against some cultures??

In the US, such laws provide students recourse after they've been punished, thrown out of sporting events, etc. Schools and sports associations often update their policies after such events get broadly publicized. But no, the law doesn't prevent it altogether.

Of course, literally speaking, the law doesn’t prevent any behavior, it simply deters it.

I think the reason why we see these things still happen is because the laws are broad, continually improving, and education is administrated at a local level so you have different organizations rediscovering the same social issues over and over.

It's not just preventing behavior -- there's a ton of places where there are still variously unconstitutional/illegal policies and laws. Unless schools, local lawmakers, etc. are proactive in bringing this up to date (like my high school) then the legal system demands its pound of flesh to show that harm was done to force a change to happen.

Come on, It’s not a stretch that when being discriminated by school staff also other authorities like the police won’t be on your side.

The authorities response between the black live matter protests and the terrorism from trump supporters is just one recent example of this. As long as the people discriminating have more power than the ones being discriminated, laws only protect some.

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