{"id":33925,"date":"2023-05-20T10:45:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-20T16:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-graduations-native-american-students-seek-acceptance-of-tribal-regalia\/"},"modified":"2023-05-20T16:45:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T16:45:38","slug":"at-graduations-native-american-students-seek-acceptance-of-tribal-regalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-graduations-native-american-students-seek-acceptance-of-tribal-regalia\/","title":{"rendered":"At graduations, Native American students seek acceptance of tribal regalia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Amryn
Amryn Tom graduates from Cedar City High School on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Cedar City, Utah. Tom is wearing an eagle feather given to her by her mother and a cap that a family friend beaded. (Rick Bowmer\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

When Kamryn Yanchick graduated, she hoped to decorate her cap with a beaded pattern in honor of her Native American heritage. Whether she could was up to her Oklahoma high school. Administrators told her no.<\/p>\n

Yanchick settled for wearing beaded earrings to her 2018 graduation.<\/p>\n

A bill vetoed earlier this month by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, would have allowed public school students to wear feathers, beaded caps, stoles or other objects of cultural and religious significance. Yanchick, a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and descendant of the Muscogee Nation, said she hopes the legislature tries again.<\/p>\n

Being able to \u201cunapologetically express yourself and take pride in your culture at a celebration without having to ask a non-Native person for permission to do so is really significant,\u201d said Yanchick, a Native American policy advocate and a former intern with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

For Native American students, tribal regalia is often passed down through generations and worn at graduations to signify connection with the community<\/a>. Disputes over such attire have spurred laws making it illegal to prevent Native American students from wearing regalia in nearly a dozen states including Arizona, Oregon, South Dakota, North Dakota and Washington.<\/p>\n

High schools, which often favor uniformity at commencement ceremonies, take a range of approaches toward policing sashes, flower leis and other forms of self-expression. Advocates argue the laws are needed to avoid leaving it up to individual administrators.<\/p>\n

Groups like the Native American Rights Fund hear regularly from students blocked from wearing eagle feathers<\/a> or other regalia. This week in Oklahoma, a Native American high school graduate sued a school district<\/a>, claiming she was forced her to remove a feather from her cap at a ceremony last spring.<\/p>\n

When Jade Roberson graduated from Edmond Santa Fe High School, the same school attended by Yanchick, she would have liked to wear a beaded cap and a large turquoise necklace above her gown. But it didn\u2019t seem worth asking. She said a friend was only able to wear an eagle feather because he spoke with several counselors, consulted the principal and received a letter from the Cherokee Nation on the feather\u2019s significance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a hassle for him that my friends and I decided to just wear things under our gown,\u201d said Roberson, who is of Navajo descent. \u201cI think it is such a metaphor for what it is like to be Native.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE \u2013 Amryn Tom reacts after graduating from Cedar City High School on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Cedar City, Utah. Tom is wearing an eagle feather given to her by her mother and a cap that a family friend beaded. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When Adriana Redbird graduates this week from Sovereign Community School, a charter school in Oklahoma City that allows regalia, she plans to wear a beaded cap and feather given by her father to signify her achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo pay tribute and take a small part of our culture and bring that with us on graduation day is meaningful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In his veto message, Stitt said allowing students to wear tribal regalia should be up to individual districts. He said the proposal could also lead other groups to \u201cdemand special favor to wear whatever they please\u201d at graduations.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s author, Republican state Rep. Trey Caldwell, represents a district in southwest Oklahoma that includes ancestral land of Kiowa, Apache and Comanche.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the right thing to do, especially with so much of Native American culture so centered around right of passage, becoming a man, becoming an adult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Several tribal nations have called for an override of the veto. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the bill would have helped foster a sense of pride among Native American students. Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill said students who \u201cchoose to express the culture and heritage of their respective Nations\u201d are honoring their identity.<\/p>\n

It means a lot that the bill was able to garner support and make it to the governor, Yanchick said, but she wishes it wasn\u2019t so controversial.<\/p>\n

\u201cNative American students shouldn\u2019t have to be forced to be activists to express themselves or feel celebrated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mumphrey reported from Phoenix. AP reporter Sean Murphy contributed to this story from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE \u2013 The Canyon View High School graduation is shown Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Cedar City, Utah. Last year, two school principals in southern Utah's Iron County School District attempted to bar two Native American students from wearing forms of tribal regalia at their graduation ceremonies. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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