A black student in Texas who was suspended because his high school said the way he wore his dreadlocks violated its dress code has been invited to the Oscars.
The actress Gabrielle Union and the former N.B.A. champion Dwyane Wade, a married couple who were producers of “Hair Love,” an Oscar-nominated short animated film by Matthew A. Cherry, have invited the teenager, DeAndre Arnold, to attend the 92nd Academy Awards on Feb. 9.
“As you may have already heard, DeAndre was recently suspended and threatened with not being able to walk in his high school graduation if he didn’t cut his hair and inviting him to the Oscars was the least we could do,” the producers posted on Instagram on Friday with a segment of their announcement on “CBS This Morning.”
“Hair Love” is about an African-American father who learns to style his young daughter’s hair for the first time. DeAndre was excited about the Oscars and the couple’s support.
“It’s crazy. Like, I never thought that people like DWade and Gabrielle Union would be like on my side,” DeAndre said on the CBS show, where he appeared with his mother, Sandy Arnold.
Ms. Union and Mr. Wade were not immediately available for comment on Saturday.
Just before winter break, DeAndre was called into the principal’s office and placed in an in-school suspension. DeAndre’s father, David Arnold, said on Saturday that DeAndre was back in school and referred inquiries to his wife, who did not immediately respond for comment.
DeAndre has said in interviews with news outlets that he has been wearing his dreadlocks since seventh grade and had no plans to cut his hair. He said his hairstyle had nothing to do with his potential.
“Me and my hair kind of grew up together in a way,’’ he said. “It’s like we’re best friends.”
Officials in the majority-white Barbers Hill Independent School District, which has nearly 5,400 students, said they were adhering to the handbook regulations on students’ grooming, which focus not on hairstyle but on length. The district is in Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles east of Houston.
The school district’s student handbook says that “male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a T-shirt collar or be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a T-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the earlobes when let down.”
The guideline has been part of the student handbook for at least three decades, said Jami Navarre, a school district spokeswoman.
“Our policy is legally acceptable, and we have an exemption policy for religious and medical reasons,’’ she said.
Still, critics of the school district’s decision have said the rule is racist, sexist or both. Black people have long been discriminated against, ostracized or punished for hairstyles consistent with their natural hair textures, such as Afros or dreadlocks.
News of the suspension has attracted attention from national news outlets.
Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.; Gavin Newsom, the governor of California; and Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins tweeted in support of DeAndre.
This week, DeAndre appeared on an episode of “The Ellen Show.”
“Every day I would go to school, I would always be in dress code,” he said during his appearance. “But the thing with them is, if it was let down, I would be out of dress code. If girls can have long hair, why can’t I have long hair?”
At a recent school board meeting, the public comments were dominated by debates over DeAndre’s suspension.
“This is a policy that’s rooted in racism,” said Ashton P. Woods, a civil rights activist from Houston who attended the meeting with DeAndre and his family.
“This is a policy that’s rooted in gender roles, homophobia, transphobia,” Mr. Woods said at the meeting. “Because we’re telling people how they should wear their hair when they’re doing really well in school.”
DeAndre’s parents also spoke at the meeting.
“You guys don’t call me because he’s a problem,” Ms. Arnold told school board members. “You guys don’t call me because he’s disrespectful. You guys don’t call me for anything. The only call I get is about DeAndre’s hair.”
Source: Television - nytimes.com
