We measure others by what they do, and in this case it is clear that Christians have failed yet again. When young Vanessa VanDyke, a student at Faith Christian Academy, went to the school’s administration with concerns about bullying because of her naturally curly hair, the administration told her to tame it or find another school. They refused to deal with the actual problem. Instead of dealing with the bullies, they went after the victim. When the story broke the Internet, the school related, allowing her to keep her hair and remain a student, but the school has still have not addressed the original problem. Go figure.
I wonder. If a little white girl with long blond hair had reported bullies pulling her pigtails, would the administration have told her to cut her hair? I don’t think so.
Christian Failure Mode (CFM): Blaming the victim, coercion and racism, exacerbated by caving to external pressure. Plus, failure to address the actual problem.
“There have been bullies in the school,” said the girl’s mother, Sabrina Kent. “There have been people teasing her about her hair, and it seems to me that they’re blaming her.”
***update 11/30/2013
Oops. Let’s talk about atheist fail for a moment. I made a mistake a published a link to the wrong school I mentioned Faith Christian Academy in Orange Park, Florida, and published contact information. I asked my readers to reach out and give them some love. I linked to the wrong school. They reached out to me and asked that I acknowledge the mistake and correct the error. I apologize to Faith Christian Academy for my actions and for any harm this has caused. My bad… I hope this helps.
The correct link is Faith Christian Academy. Phone: (407) 275-8031. eMail: dance@fcalions.org
Venessa - your hair is beautiful. Don’t ever let them tell you otherwise.
