LOS ANGELES, Calif. – “Hair Love” director Matthew A. Cherry brought a special guest to the Oscars red carpet — Deandre Arnold, a Texas high school student who was told he couldn’t attend graduation unless he cut his dreadlocks.
Arnold’s story brought national attention and prompted the Texas Legislative Black Caucus to work up a bill that would ban discrimination based on hair textures and styles commonly associated with race. Cherry was eager to lend his support — his film about a young black girl who asks her inexperienced father to help style her hair is nominated for best animated short.
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“It means the world to us to have him here with us,” Cherry said. “We wanted people to see how good of a kid he is, but also there’s no reason people should be policing our hair.”
“Hair Love” went on to win an Academy Award for best animated short film.
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Arnold said it’s been “validating” to get backing from Cherry and other celebrities, including Ellen DeGeneres, who gifted him $20,000 toward his education.
“I’m standing strong because of the support system I have behind me,” Arnold said.
Arnold, a senior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu in southeast Texas, said he was barred from school and won’t be allowed to attend his graduation ceremony after the school said his hairstyle violates the school’s dress code.
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Barbers Hill Independent School District officials have said it's not about race and that the school allows dreadlocks but has rules about the length of male students' hair.
“There is no dress code policy that prohibits any cornrow or any other method of wearing of the hair,” the district’s superintendent, Greg Poole, said in January. “Our policy limits the length. It’s been that way for 30 years.”