🚨 Breaking overnight: Alabama’s largest hospital has paused all IVF treatment after the state’s highest court ruled frozen embryos are children.

Good morning! Welcome to The Movement from NOTICE News, where we envision a world that’s driven by human decency, compassion and love—not corporate greed and growth. We’re news for the people, not the profit. 🌹

In today’s newsletter:

• This teen’s hairstyle is going to court today

• Biden delivers on canceling more student loan debt

• What the algorithm is keeping from you 🙅🏼‍♂️

• How one movie star superhero is inspiring us—in real life.

⏱️ Estimated read time: 4.2 minutes.

Black teen suspended for dreadlocks finally gets his day in court today

Darryl George, a junior at a public high school 30 miles outside Houston, has spent most of the school year in either in-school suspension or at an off-site disciplinary program. That’s because school officials say Darryl’s hair, which he wears in dreadlocks, violates the district dress code. The 18-year-old has refused to cut his hair, though, and today, a Texas judge will hear his case.

Darryl’s family says the district’s punishment violates a new Texas law designed to prevent race-based hair discrimination. Called the CROWN Act, or Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, Texas is one of 23 states that have passed the landmark legislation. The district, apparently more intent on destroying students' lives than lifting them up, filed a lawsuit  asking the courts to clarify. Last month a judge ordered the case to go to trial, and that trial begins today. 

The big picture: Hair, hairstyles, and haircare rituals are deeply important to Black people and communities. One of the first things slave traders would do to many of the human beings they captured in Africa—to systematically dehumanize them—is shave their heads. As Black people struggled to gain their freedom from first the colonialists and later the capitalists who enslaved them, hair took on a new importance of freedom and self expression. As one author wrote, “Our hair is our crown: a source of strength and a symbol of the creativity that we show to the world.”

Back outside Houston: It’s unclear when the judge will rule. As for Darryl, the amazing teen just wants life to get back to normal, but on his terms. “I feel like I’m missing my full experience of being in the classroom,” Darryl told the AP. “I hope I can start being a kid again, start living my life, start playing football again and enjoy my year, my last few years in high school.”

Go deeper: The natural hair-care company Odele put together this primer on 6 Things Everyone Should Know About Black Hair History.

Despite Supreme Court, Biden continues to chip away at student debt

Yesterday morning, an email went out to some 153,000 student loan borrowers informing them they’re now debt free, after President Biden announced another $1.2 billion in student debt relief.  

Since MAGA Republicans succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to block Biden's student debt relief plan, the Biden administration has used alternative methods to cancel some $138 billion in student loan debt for 3.9 million Americans.