Clinton Stanley Jr., student who was banned in school due to his locks
Apopka, FL — A Book’s Christian Academy, a school in Florida, has received some serious backlash after reportedly prohibiting a 6-year old African American boy from attending class because of his locks. And now, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida has filed a discrimination complaint against the school.
“Our son just got told he could not attend the school with his hair,” the boy’s father, Clinton Stanley Sr. can be heard saying in the video. “If that’s not biased, I don’t know what is.”
The school has denied that the boy was turned away because of race. Instead, they claim that it was what’s written on the school policy on dress codes and hairstyles. They added that in their 47-year history as a school, no boy has ever been allowed to have long hair in class.
“I still have the same rules I always had,” the school’s administrator, Sue Book told The Washington Post. “The girls wear skirts, the boys wear trousers, hair above their ears and off their collars.”
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union recently filed an administrative complaint with the state of Florida. The complaint states that prohibiting dreadlocks is considered discrimination, especially since the school receives state funding. In connection to that, they called for the state to cut off the funding to the school.
The school’s founder and chairman Reverend John Butler Book, however, stands firmly with the school’s policy of not allowing dreadlocks. He said he would rather run the school without state funding if he would be asked to change their almost-half-century-old rules to be able to still receive funding.
“If you take state money, and children want to come nude, does that mean they can come nude? Does that mean we have to say they can come nude? If you can draw a standard in one area, then you can draw it in any area,” he said.