A Black student who was suspended because of his hairstyle returned to school today after a federal judge blocked a grooming policy that his lawyer says is based on standards of a racial hierarchy
- A Texas school district ordered two Black high school students not to return to school unless they cut their locs.
- On Monday a federal judge blocked the school from carrying out the suspension of one of the young men, Kaden Bradford, allowing him to return to school without cutting his hair.
- Barbers Hill Independent School District is majority white and has refused to change its dress code, which is deemed racist by many.
A Black Texas high school student is allowed to return to class this year without cutting his locs, a Federal judge ruled Monday.
Kaden Bradford and his cousin De'Andre Arnold made national headlines in January when they were told by the Barbers Hill Independent School District that they couldn't come to school unless change their appearance.
Their families sued the district in federal court in Houston, claiming that the schools dress code, forbidding long hair, is unconstitutional as discriminates based on race, sex, and is in violation of freedom of expression.
While the case is ongoing, US District Court Judge George Hanks issued a preliminary injunction that orders the district to allow Bradford back without changes to his hair.
Arnold had transferred to a different school for the end of his senior year and has since graduated.
"The Bradfords are elated," Attorney Patricia Okonta, of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, told Insider. "I just spoke to KB yesterday and he was thrilled. He had a zoom call planned with his friends to talk about what the first day of school would be like, what their outfits would look like, just normal 16-year-old excitement about returning to school."
The Legal Defense Fund has been working around the country to push back against dress and grooming policies that they argue are discriminatory towards students of color. It is litigating Arnold and Kaden's case with attorneys from Akin Gump.
After being suspended for several days in January and February, Kaden's mom enrolled Bradford temporarily in a nearby district. Despite what Kaden and his family view as unfair treatment, he wanted to maintain a part of the Barbers Hill school community.
"He's been at Barbers Hill since first grade," Akin Gump Attorney Nick Petree told Insider. "He has an older brother who graduated from Barbers Hill. His mom graduated from Barbers Hill. His cousin just graduated, but had been at Barbers Hill his entire life."
While Kaden and Arnold's high profile case is playing out in federal court, attorneys have also went to bat against administrators in Florida and Boston for Black students facing punishment for their braids or locs, Okonta said.
Hanks' memo notes that data reviewed by attorneys show that Black students at Barbers Hill High School were three times more likely than their white classmates to lose at least one day of instruction because of the hair policy. The data also showed that Black students who were placed in in-school suspension lost an average of 3.5 days of class, which which students lost an average of one day.
"In other words, there is credible statistical evidence in the record showing that African-American students were more likely than white students to be punished, and to be punished harshly, on account of the hair-length policy," Hanks' wrote in the injunction, which was viewed by Insider.
Hanks also said that Kaden showed "a substantial likelihood" that his rights under the equal protection clause and the First Amendment will be violated in the injunction was denied.
The district's hair policy requires that male students not have hair that extends past the collar, earlobes and eyes.
Students used to be able to keep their hair long, but comply by the dress code by wearing it up. In 2019 the school board made the code more stringent, requiring that that the hair has to be short even if it was pulled back, according to court documents.
Attorneys for the teens had previously argued in front of the school board that the policy was racist and should be changed, but they voted in July to keep it in place.
"We are disappointed with the most recent decision," Barbers Hill Superintendent Dr. Greg Poole said in a statement to Insider. "This ruling has the potential to impact many school districts in the state of Texas that maintain similar dress code language. The Board of Trustees will consider its appellate options."
Barring certain natural hairstyles, such as dreadlocks and braids, can be discriminatory, as many of those styles hold cultural and historical meaning. Several states have passed The Crown Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. The law prohibits discrimination against natural hair and protective styles in schools and workplaces.
Arnold, whose father is from Trinidad, started growing his dreadlocks in seventh grade as an expression of his Black and West Indian heritage.
"Locs are communicative. They express pride in one's black identify as well as their West Indian heritage and it's critical for this district and other districts grooming policies to not infringe on the expression of racial identity or cultural heritage of students of color," Okonta told Insider.
The story of a small Texas town digging its feet into a policy over how young men wear their hair has drawn celebrity attention.
Earlier this year, Ellen Degeneres and Alicia Keys surprised Arnold with a $20,000 scholarship on "The Ellen Show."
He also attended the Oscars as a guest of the producers and director of "Hair Love," an animated short film about a Black father doing his daughter's hair.
The Legal Defense Fund continues to hear from students of color around the country who are being punished for how they wear their hair.
Some districts try to defend the grooming policies by saying they banned styles don't represent "professionalism" or "excellence."
"Those ideals often come from the notion of white supremacy and we want to ensure that within this district and other districts that all dress and grooming rules allow students to express themselves racially and culturally, but also aren't bias towards any sort of system or standards of racial hierarchy," Okanta said.