Students at Pasadena’s John Muir High School walked out of class Wednesday morning to protest a school policy that prohibits wearing durags.

The students say the ban on durags exists because administrators believe they’re associated with gangs. But for the students, the head coverings are an important part of black culture often used to create and preserve a hairstyle known as waves.

If a young black man wears a durag, it doesn’t mean he’s involved in criminal activity, they said.

Reggie Myles, 17, a Black Student Union cabinet member, helps lead John Muir High School students in a walkout protesting the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

John Muir High School students walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

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During a John Muir High School walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags students ask to see the young men’s waves from under their durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Dylan Wilson, 15, shows his 360 wave hairstyle created after months of wearing a durag during a John Muir High School walkout protesting the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. Durags are used to create hairstyle’s like Wilson’s. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Dylan Wilson, 15, shows his 360 wave hairstyle created after months of wearing a durag during a John Muir High School walkout protesting the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. Durags are used to create hairstyles like Wilson’s. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)



Karina Cotlage and Isabella Rascon, both 16, attend John Muir High School students walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

During a John Muir High School walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags students ask to see the young men’s waves from under their durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

During a John Muir High School walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags students ask to see the young men’s waves from under their durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Reggie Myles, 17, a Black Student Union cabinet member, helps lead John Muir High School students in a walkout protesting the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

John Muir High School students walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)



Karina Cotlage and Isabella Rascon, both 16, attend John Muir High School students walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

John Muir High School students walkout to protest the school’s ban on durags on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

“The main reason we protest today is because we’re trying to stop the criminalization of black men on campus,” senior Reggie Myles of the Black Student Union said in an interview outside Muir.

Administrators are here. Students chant at them: “I am not dangerous” pic.twitter.com/G2lxEhdlCM — Chris Lindahl (@cmlindahl) February 20, 2019

It’s true students aren’t allowed to wear durags, Principal Lawton Gray said, but he challenged the students’ assertion that the ban comes from associations between gang culture and durags.

“The administration’s feeling is that, once again, durags are not to be worn at school,” he said in an interview. “It does not have to do with gang affiliation. It has to do with the values we have for how we present ourselves at school.”

Gray, who attended John Muir, said he wore a durag, also known as a wave cap, as a teen. But the time to wear a durag to protect waves is when you’re asleep, he said.

The Pasadena Unified dress code stipulates that “hats, caps and other head coverings shall not be worn indoors.” District policies give leeway to school site administrators to tailor rules to their specific campuses, PUSD spokeswoman Hilda Ramirez Horvath said. She said she did not know how long Muir has prohibited durags or whether other schools in the district also ban them.

The specific district-level policy against gang-related apparel stipulates that schools may prohibit “apparel that reasonably could be determined to threaten the health and safety of the school environment if it were worn or displayed on a school campus,” but it does not ban specific items of clothing.

Reggie Myles, 17, of the ⁦@JohnMuirBSU⁩, helps lead a walkout protesting John Muir HS’s ban on #durags ⁦@PasStarNews⁩ pic.twitter.com/S4sVJRoWIu — Sarah Reingewirtz (@sarahimages) February 20, 2019

Gray said he first spoke with Black Student Union leaders last week about the durag policy and told them that ongoing conversations would be necessary — they wouldn’t be able to find common ground in one brief discussion. He’s due to speak with the Associated Student Body next week, he said.

Asked whether prohibiting durags from being worn in school contributes to the criminalization of black men, Gray said: “That’s a much larger conversation” that he hopes to continue with students.

More than 100 people walked out around 9:30 a.m., chanting, “I am not dangerous” and conducting a “wave check” — where students, phone cameras in hand, would gather around a student with waves and check out his flattened-out curls.

“Is this gang violence right here?” one protester asked the crowd. “No!”

Student Felicia Davis said wearing durags is not a violent act.

“They’re trying to take away who we are — our culture,” she said. “It is them trying to cleanse our ethnic beauty.”

Black Student Union Secretary Emily Cattouse said in addition to the practical hairstyle function of wave caps, they also allow students to express themselves with a variety of colors and patterns.

The students said a double-standard exists in the school’s policies: Women are allowed to wear headscarves despite the ban on a similar accessory for men. Ramirez Horvath said she did not know offhand about policies regarding headscarves.

Gray said he does not expect students who participated in the walkout to face discipline for the protest.