For years, Native American students have not been able to wear sacred tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies. One bill moving in the legislature could change that.
Rep. David Cook’s, R-Globe, bill HB2120 would make it illegal for schools to ban Indigenous students from wearing religious items like eagle feathers, shell necklaces and beads at high school graduation ceremonies.
Stephen Roe Lewis, the governor of the Gila River community, brought the issue of schools banning sacred tribal regalia to legislators after learning about several cases in Arizona.
Several Arizona high schools have banned Indigenous regalia of 2019 graduates, including LaRissa Waln of the Sioux Tribe, who protested her high school graduation after being barred from the ceremony for wearing a cap beaded in traditional Native American style, according to Amanda Parris, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Two days before Waln graduated from Valley Vista High School in Surprise, the school established a ban against graduation decorations. She reached out to the ACLU and Native American Rights Fund for help.
The school district issued a response, stating, “The District has imposed a reasonable restriction on student speech through its commencement dress code to preserve the sanctity and formality of the commencement ceremony.”
Without enough time to battle the decision with an injunction from the ACLU, Waln was barred from entering her graduation venue while wearing her regalia.
The district’s response was not legally sufficient in light of the Free Exercise of Religion Act, which prohibits school districts from preventing the practice of religion, according to Parris.
“What’s frustrating is that school districts will brush off Native American religious beliefs and traditions,” Parris said. “Their religion is not respected and that has been a long history of Native Americans’ religious beliefs being brushed off and not given full respect under the law.”
ACLU and Native American Rights Fund have worked in similars cases including one in Oklahoma where a school wouldn’t allow a high school student, of Chickasaw Nation, to graduate wearing Indigenous regalia.
Last year, Lourdes Pereira, of the Hia-Ced O’odham tribe, fought to wear her regalia and won after Pueblo High School in Tucson tried to prevent her from celebrating graduation in her shell necklaces, which she had worn daily to school to honor her ancestors and her tribe’s connection to the school.
Rep. Geraldine Peten, D-Goodyear, said she is concerned the scope of the bill is too narrow and excludes too many other cultures.
“It’s a good idea, but it’s specific to Native Americans,” Peten said. “We want to be humane and more inclusive, within reason.”
Peten, who is African American, said she wore a Kente cloth to her graduation, a form of regalia that would not be protected under the bill.
But, according to Cook, “culture” is a broad term that could continue to be misinterpreted by school districts, and the bill’s scope should be narrowed to the religion of Native American tribes.
“We’re a melting pot, we can all claim our cultures,” Cook said, “But this law addresses federally recognized tribes.”
Parris said that all students should be able to express their culture at graduation, but “Native students absolutely should be allowed to dress the way they want for graduation.”
Contact the reporters at bmfloren@asu.edu and cdorch@asu.edu.
