Mom Pulls Daughter Out Of School After Teacher Says Her Hair 'Stinks'

After a day care teacher asked Tionna Harris to use less coconut oil in her 3-year-old daughter’s hair, a reporter asked how she felt about the teacher’s request. Harris summed up her view of the situation in three words: “Discriminative, stereotypical, racist.”

On Oct. 10, Norris posted a letter on Facebook that she received from a teacher at Raggedy Anne Learning Center in Illinois, a day care her daughter Amia attended. In the letter, which has gotten more than 12,000 reactions and 5,000 shares as of Monday, the teacher suggested that Norris use less coconut oil in Amia’s hair.

“The children were complaining that her hair ‘stinks,’” the letter reads. “If you have to apply this daily - please do so lightly, so the kid’s don’t tease her.”

In response to the letter, Norris wrote in her Facebook post, “Y’all gone feel that black girl magic. Sincerely, unapologetically black mom.”

According to another Facebook post, Norris met with the teacher and school administrator and learned that it was not Amia’s classmates who had a problem with the coconut oil.

“It was just something the teacher was not used to and thought it was heavy (she has a sensitive nose so she says) they have fully taken responsibility and understands why it’s so offensive,” Norris wrote in the post. “They also would like to apologize to anyone the letter may have offended. Amia is happy and reassured me no one ever bullied her.”

The Raggedy Anne Learning Center did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment, and declined to talk to CBS 2 Chicago reporter Dorothy Tucker as you can see in the video above.

Norris also told CBS 2 Chicago that she decided to remove Amia from the school. In one of her final Facebook posts about the incident, she stressed the importance of teaching her daughter ― and others ― to embrace their natural hair.

“If you gone let your hair define you, let it represent you! #teamnatural,” she wrote.

The Huffington Post has reached out to Raggedy Anne Learning Center and Norris and will update this article accordingly.

H/T CBS Chicago