Bill Would Stop Schools From Banning Black Hairstyles

ILLINOIS —A bill is awaiting Senate approval in Springfield that, if passed, would prohibit public and private schools from making dress codes and uniforms that don't allow hairstyles like braids, dreadlocks and cornrows.

The bill passed the House and Senate last week, but before going to Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his signature, was sent back to the Senate to approve a new, Chicago name for the proposed legislation. The "Jett Hawkins Law," would be named after a 4-year-old Chicago boy who was told he couldn't wear his new braids at school due to the dress code.

Gus "Jett" Hawkins had his hair braided by his mother and was excited to show off his new style at Providence St. Mel, only for the boy's mom to get a call from school officials informing her the braids were against school dress code.

For many Black and brown people, whose hair is often coarser in texture, hairstyles like braids and cornrows are protective and help promote healthy hair regrowth. Some schools say they don't allow the historically ethnic hairstyles because they disrupt a uniform dress code.

Sen. Mike Simmons, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said he wrote the bill after hearing Jett's story.

"For [Black people] as children and teenagers to go to school — a place where we're supposed to learn and have freedom of expression — and to be sent home or told that something about us that is God-given is a problem or is against the rules is entirely unacceptable in 2021," Simmons said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times last week.

The bill faced criticism from those who worried it would restrict private schools.

"[A school] would no longer be able to maintain their dress code and hair code moving forward if this passes, in a private school that for years and years and years has maintained a certain look of their students, regardless of race?" Rep. Anthony DeLuca of Chicago Heights asked on the House floor Thursday.

Ultimately, enforcement would be up to the Illinois State Board of Education. For now, the Senate is expected to send the bill back to Pritzker soon.

Each year Illinois schools are required to update their handbooks. If the law takes effect, the state board of education would require them to add a provision against "any discriminatory or policing language on Black hairstyles."

Chicago Democrat Rep. Greg Harris said the bill is a way to continue the momentum towards racial equality.

"If we need to make this accommodation to treat people with respect, I think that’s a worthwhile goal," he said.