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The 'biased' reason boy, 6, was banned from private school

A black primary school boy was denied admission to a private Christian academy because of his “natural” hairstyle – a move his dad is calling racially “biased”.

Footage livestreamed on Monday by Clinton Jr’s father Clinton Stanley Sr, shows the sad six-year-old, with short dreadlocks, standing outside the entrance of A Book’s Christian Academy, in Apopka, Florida, US.

Two administrators can be seen inside, and when Mr Stanley asks them if they’ll allow his son to attend the school if he braids his son’s hair up, one of them says no.

Black African-American Florida primary school boy Clinton Stanley Jr banned from private Christian academy because of dreadlock hair.
Black primary school boy Clinton Stanley Jr was denied admission to a private Christian academy because of his dreadlocks. Source: Clinton Stanley Sr / Facebook

Stanley can be heard calling their decision “biased.”

The Parent/Student Handbook for A Book’s Christian Academy states: “All boys hair must be a tapered cut, off the collar and ears. There are to be no dreads, Mohawks, designs, unnatural color, or unnatural designs.”

According to reports from The Miami Herald and WESH2 News, school officials, including Director John Book, have said that the decision to not allow Mr Stanley’s son to attend class was purely on the basis of these rules, and not related to race.

Black African-American Florida primary school boy Clinton Stanley Jr banned from private Christian academy because of dreadlock hair.
The African-American boy’s dad is calling the school’s decision to ban the boy as ‘biased’, based on his race. Source: Clinton Stanley Sr / Facebook via Storyful

Stanley’s son is now attending another school, The Miami Herald reported.

The incident has drawn the attention of activist Shaun King and inspired a Change.org petition.

The petition claims the African-American family, who were granted access to the private school via a Step Up scholarship program based on the promise of equal opportunity, said they were not provided with the uniform policy.

“Income, however, or lack of this scholarship, is not what kept Clinton Jr from entering his first-grade classroom on the first day of school. It was his natural hair and a policy in the school’s parent/student handbook that prevented him.

Despite the fact that Clinton Stanley Sr was never provided this handbook, it was not accessible via Internet, at the time of enrollment or at this current moment and was advised via email that he had successfully enrolled his son into A Book’s Christian Academy, he did not find out about this policy until the first day of school when he literally attempted to drop his son off at the school,” according to Change.org.

– with Storyful