Judge blocks school dress code that demanded Black student cut dreadlocks

A federal judge in Texas on Monday ruled in favor of a Black student whose school district forbade him to wear his hair in dreadlocks.

U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. issued a preliminary injunction against the Barbers Hill Independent School District in Mont Belvieu, allowing 16-year-old Kaden Bradford to wear dreadlocks without the threat of punishment, NBC News reported.

The ruling means Bradford will not be made to “endure an unjust and educationally-damaging in-school suspension simply for having uncut locs, which are an immutable part of his Black identity and cultural heritage,” said Janai Nelson, NAACP Legal Defense Fund associate director-counsel. The advocacy group represented Bradford in the legal challenge.

The district had previously said that if Bradford did not cut his hair, he would be given in-school suspension and unable to participate in activities such as band, according to NBC.

Both Bradford and his cousin DeAndre Arnold were told in January they would have to cut their hair before returning to classes. Arnold, who graduated May, was told he would not be allowed to participate in his graduation ceremony with the hairstyle. Both boys’ families sued, claiming racial discrimination.

The two cases prompted national outrage and an outpouring of support for both boys. Arnold was invited to attend the Academy Awards with filmmaker Matthew Cherry, whose short film “Hair Love” took home a prize at the ceremony.

Bradford, Hanks ruled, “has shown a substantial likelihood that his rights under the Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment will be violated if his motion for a preliminary injunction is denied, and he has additionally shown that he will receive either inferior instruction or no instruction if his motion is denied.”

Bradford and Arnold had both worn their hair in dreadlocks for years without incident until the school district, in December 2019, changed its policy and said they would be in violation based on the length of their hair when it was let down.