The problem of hair discrimination disproportionately affects black students. A high schooler in New Jersey was forced by a referee to cut his dreadlocks or forfeit his wrestling match. A Catholic school in Louisiana sent a 11-year-old girl back home for her braided hair. In California, a high schooler was suspended for wearing braids.

At least 11 Catholic schools in Queens, New York, the borough of New York City where Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy is located, adopt strict hair policies. They assert that natural hairstyles are "extremely distracting" or "attention seeking."