The family of a Black high school student in Texas who was suspended over his dreadlocks filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Saturday against the state's governor and attorney general, alleging they failed to enforce a new law outlawing discrimination based on hairstyles.

Darryl George, 17, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been serving an in-school suspension since Aug. 31. Officials with the Houston-area school say his dreadlocks fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes and violate the district's dress code.

George's mother, Darresha George, and the family's attorney deny the teenager's hairstyle violates the dress code, saying his hair is neatly tied in twisted dreadlocks on top of his head.

SCHOOL CLAIMS NO DISCRIMINATION AFTER BLACK STUDENT SUSPENDED FOR HAIRSTYLE

Darryl George's supporters allege the ongoing suspension by the Barbers Hill Independent School District violates the state's CROWN Act, which took effect Sept. 1.

The lawsuit also alleges that Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, in their official duties, have failed to protect George's constitutional rights against discrimination and against violations of his freedom of speech and expression. George "should be permitted to wear his hair in the manner in which he wears it ... because the so-called neutral grooming policy has no close association with learning or safety and when applied, disproportionately impacts Black males," Allie Booker, the family's attorney, wrote in the lawsuit.

Spokespeople for Abbott and Paxton, both Republicans, did not immediately return emails seeking comment Saturday.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to stop George's in-school suspension while the case is in court.

"Time to bring the fight to Barbers Hill ISD. We're going to drop the hammer of accountability in the face of racism," Candice Matthews, national minister of politics for the New Black Panther Nation and a spokesperson for George's family, said in a statement Saturday.

The lawsuit, filed in Houston federal court by George's mother, is the latest legal action taken related to the suspension.

CONNECTICUT PASSES CROWN ACT TO BAN DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NATURAL HAIR

On Tuesday, Darresha George and her attorney filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency, alleging Darryl George is being harassed and mistreated by school district officials over his hair and that his in-school suspension violates the CROWN Act.

They allege that during his suspension, George is forced to sit for eight hours on a stool and that he's being denied the hot free lunch he's qualified to receive. The agency is investigating the complaint.

Darresha George said she was recently hospitalized after a series of panic and anxiety attacks brought on from stress related to her son's suspension.

 

On Wednesday, the school district filed its own lawsuit in state court asking a judge to clarify whether its dress code restrictions limiting student hair length for boys violates the CROWN Act.

Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole has said he believes the dress code is legal and that it teaches students to conform as a sacrifice benefiting everyone.

The school district said it would not enhance the current punishment against Darryl George while it waits for a ruling on its lawsuit.

The CROWN Act, an acronym for "Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair," is intended to prohibit race-based hair discrimination and bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles, including Afros, braids, dreadlocks, twists or Bantu knots. Texas is one of 24 states that have enacted a version of the act.

A federal version passed in the U.S. House last year, but was not successful in the Senate.

State Rep. Rhetta Bowers, who authored Texas' version of the CROWN Act, said Friday that George's hairstyle is protected by the new law and she called on the Barbers Hill school district to end his suspension.

"The Texas CROWN Act was passed to prevent situations like this, and it is very disappointing to see Barbers Hill ISD attempt to find loopholes to skirt the law and perpetuate hair discrimination," Bowers said in a statement.

George's school previously clashed with two other Black male students over the dress code.

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Barbers Hill officials told cousins De'Andre Arnold and Kaden Bradford they had to cut their dreadlocks in 2020. The two students' families sued the school district in May 2020, and a federal judge later ruled the district's hair policy was discriminatory. Their case, which garnered national attention and remains pending, helped spur Texas lawmakers to approve the state's CROWN Act law. Both students withdrew from the school, with Bradford returning after the judge's ruling.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy released a press release blasting a recent Washington Post "hit piece" against him.

Portnoy’s statement accusing the outlet of causing the "death of honest and fair journalism" in attacking him with "untrue narratives" went viral on X Friday, receiving millions of views in hours and prompting a social media pile on of the Washington Post.

In the statement he posted to X, Portnoy explained his side of a recent feud between him and the outlet over a story the Post published. The piece reported on criticism advertisers and pizzerias got for working with the mogul for his upcoming "One Bite Pizza Festival" in New York City.

BARSTOOL SPORTS FOUNDER DAVE PORTNOY THREATENS TO SUE VICE OVER ‘LIES AND SLANDER’

The piece, published by Post reporters Tim Carmen and Emily Heil Friday, described Portnoy as someone who "has been no stranger to controversy." It mentioned his history of "sexist" and other insensitive comments, as well as allegations of sexual impropriety. 

The statement from "Team Portnoy" opened, stating, "Today marks the official death of honest and fair journalism in America. Emily ‘Caught Red Handed’ Heil and Tim ‘Probably An Ugly Loser’ Carman of the Washington Post put the final nail in the coffin with their weak and dishonest hit piece against David S. Portnoy and his One Bite pizzafest."

The letter continued, explaining how Portnoy "caught wind of this hit piece" before it was published. It claimed he noticed that "Heil started reaching out to advertisers and pizzerias to try and shame them for participating in what will be the greatest day in the history of pizza."

Portnoy’s feud with the outlet went public when he called Heil and argued with her over her intentions in publishing it.

Taunting the reporters, Portnoy’s letter continued, "It had already been a rough week for Portnoy, who’s been having trouble finding his coffee in his colossal new Miami mansion. And now he had to deal with this."

Mentioning the phone call, the statement added, "So he called up Heil to confront her and caught her red-handed in a lie where she denied saying anything negative about Portnoy in emails. (She would later clarify that she only tells negative lies about people as a reporting tactic. As if that was supposed to help her case somehow.)"

Returning to the piece itself, the statement read, "It was mostly the same old tired, reused, and untrue narratives about Portnoy. Although they did make the groundbreaking investigative discovery that he sometimes takes more than one bite in his pizza reviews."

PORTNOY BLASTS NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER'S ‘HIT PIECE’: ‘NO INTEREST’ IN TELLING THE TRUTH 

The text added, "no pizzerias or advertisers decided to pull out of Pizzafest." 

X users weighed in on Portnoy’s post, with many siding with the Barstool owner. 

The Federalist senior contributor Rich Cromwell read the post and declared, "This is art."

Publicist and conservative Beth Baumann posted, "This is the best press release I’ve ever read and I’m a publicist. Lol."

Neither The Washington Post nor the two reporters who wrote the piece about Portnoy immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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