A Chicago school is under fire after it didn’t allow a 4-year-old boy to wear his braids in his hair according to NBC Chicago 5.  Ida Nelson’s says her son went to school earlier this month with braids in his hair, and after he arrived she says the school gave her a call.

“He had gone to school with braids, and then I got a phone call from the dean stating that the hairstyle was a violation of school policy,” she told the news outlet.

Nelson’s attends preschool classes at Providence St. Mel, a private and predominately Black school on Chicago’s West Side. Nelson says the school has strict policy about hair, specifically says boys are not allowed to wear braids. Nelson went the school to remove her son’s braids.

“I said ‘wow, I was not aware that we were still policing childrens’ hair in 2021,” she says. The story first got some attention after the story was published and reported by Block Club Chicago.

The state of Connecticut has become the eighth state to pass the “Crown Act,” which prohibits race-based hair discrimination. In 2020, Illinois lawmakers began the process of bringing that same law into effect in this state. While the legislation makes its way through the state legislature, Nelson believed the discussions about Black men and women wearing their natural hair, or other hairstyles, would allow her son’s choice of hairstyle not being an issue.

“This being an African-American school in a West Side community, I was really surprised with that,” she says. The school’s principal told NBC 5 that they are reviewing all school policies. Nelson is happy about the review, hoping it ends with policy changes.

“It might make the children feel a little bit happier or empowered,” she says. “There’s no detriment to changing the rule.”

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