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Court Rules Texas School Can’t Suspend Black Student for Having Dreadlocks

Kaden Bradford and his cousin DeAndre Arnold had been told in January that they must cut their hair to be allowed back to school.

A federal judge ruled late Monday that a Texas school district can’t enforce a dress code policy that was used to prevent a Black teenager from wearing his hair in dreadlocks. The Barbers Hill Independent School District High had informed Kaden Bradford, 16, and his cousin DeAndre Arnold, 18, in January that they would not be allowed to return to school without cutting their hair, as the district policy restricted the length of male students’ hair. The preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge George C. Hanks Jr. allows Bradford to begin the new school year without facing suspension for not cutting his hair. Arnold, who had been a senior during the previous school year, no longer attends the school.