Schools can’t prohibit student hairstyle choices

Pritzker signs law about race, ethnic styling decisions

Illinois schools won’t be allowed to ban braids, locks, twists or other hairstyles associated with race or ethnicity beginning next year under a measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Friday.

The new law, effective Jan. 1, was inspired by 4-year-old Gus “Jett” Hawkins, whose private school forced him to take out his braids last school year, and sponsored by state Sen. Mike Simmons, a North Side Democrat who wears his hair in free-form locs.

“I know from my own childhood what it’s like to be regularly belittled, humiliated, isolated and shamed by adults in the school setting, and it’s something that we can no longer accept in Illinois,” Simmons said before Pritzker signed the measure in a ceremony at Uplift Community High School in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

Simmons said in an interview earlier this year that he didn’t wear his hair long as a child because he felt pressure to conform.

Jett’s mother, Ida Nelson, said she’s happy that her son will now be able to wear his hair in whatever style he chooses.

“For us, it is bigger than just hair,” Nelson said. “Our hair is an extension of who we are as a race and is deeply connected with our cultural identity. This is one huge step toward improving the mental health outcomes for our children as it ensures that they will be in healthier learning environments.”

The new law will apply to private schools as well as public ones, which was a source of some bipartisan opposition, though the measure passed by wide margins in the House and Senate with votes from both sides of the aisle.

Schools that don’t comply with the new law would risk losing recognition status from the Illinois State Board of Education, the same tool the state is using to enforce Pritzker’s mask mandate for the upcoming school year.

One private school has already changed its policy as a result of Jett’s story.

Providence St. Mel in Garfield Park, the school that made Jett take out his braids, has removed the hairstyle policy from its handbook for the upcoming

year.

“The original intent was part of the uniform decorum and protecting our students,” Principal Tim Ervin, who is Black, said

in May. “The purpose was not to stifle anyone or to be discriminatory.”

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE Ida Nelson holds her son Gus “Jett” Hawkins, 4, on May 21 after Nelson braided his hair in March. Nelson got a call from Providence St. Mel informing her the braids were against the school dress code.