A Native American boy was kicked out of his Utah elementary school for sporting a Mohawk haircut, and his parents say it was racial "discrimination."
Jakobe Sanden, 7, was marched to the principal's office on Monday after his second-grade teacher deemed his brand new Mohawk haircut distracting to the classroom environment, and therefore in violation of the school's dress code.
"We had the students that weren’t used to it," Arrowhead Principal Susan Harrah told reporters,
according to The Washington Post. "They had called that out. So the teacher brought the student to my attention."
Harrah called Sanden's parents, and Jakobe spent several hours detained away from class.
His parents, Teyawnna and Gary Sanden — members of the Seneca Nation and Paiutes Indians, respectively — told Harrah that the Mohawk was a part of their Native American culture and heritage.
Administrators, including Rex Wilkey, assistant superintendent for primary education, asked the Sanden's to provide a tribal letter attesting to the Mohawk's significance.
Administrators pointed to the school handbook, which reads, "“Students have the responsibility to avoid grooming that causes a distraction or disruption, interrupting school decorum and adversely affecting the educational process. Extremes in body piercings, hair styles and hair colors may be considered a distraction or disruption."
The Sanden's did obtain a letter from Seneca Nation Tribal Councilor William Canella, who attested to the cultural significance of the haircut, however the family said the process was racially biased.
"I’m sure they didn’t intend it to be, but if felt like a form of discrimination," Teyawnna
told Fox 13 Salt Lake City. "We didn’t want to take it there. We provided the papers, but we didn’t feel like it was right to let it go."
"To ostracize him like that — that's stuff from the '50s,"
she told The Salt Lake Tribune.
"It’s ironic the school is named Arrowhead," said Gary.
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