Let's dissect Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt's veto of a bill that would have allowed Indigenous students to don their tribal regalia. Bummer! So unfortunate.
I can only imagine just how beautiful Indigenous regalia in a graduation ceremony would be. Here is where close-mindedness, prejudice, and needing to be in the center of power robs those in power of what could really be an awesome experience. It would hardly violate, but rather deepen and render even more beautiful, the ceremonial regard for graduation.
Plus, is it not a double-standard when there are always some students—particularly at the college level—who are outrageous with their regalia at graduation? I've seen students with X-mas lights, cartoon characters, jokes, and even profanity on their mortar boards. Others steal the limelight and excitedly dance en route to getting their diplomas.
The issue at hand is not about having a sense of humor either. That's not apparent in the rationale for the bill getting vetoed. I find it all pretty entertaining myself, breaking up otherwise lengthy processionals. Plus, I never tire of students expressing themselves. Fellow faculty seem to always share gleefully, as well, in the moment.
It's curious that Oklahoma Governor Stitt, an enrolled Cherokee Nation member, vetoed a bill that had bipartisan support! Is this a case of internalized oppression where one buys in to the dominant group's perspective of your own group, even to the point of holding the same pejorative stereotypes? Or this a class issue associated with invisible, if exclusive, parameters of expression that place limits? Or a combination of both? Or neither?
It's interesting to learn about his Cherokee Nation membership and how his ancestry has been scrutinized (read: The Cherokee Nation once fought to disenroll Gov. Kevin Stitt’s ancestors). This history and ancestry may be closest to the truth of this veto.
Relatedly, it's a different psychology for graduates that come from families that feel a greater sense of entitlement, particularly with parents and grandparents having similarly earned their high school and college degrees.
In contrast, for students who are "first-generation," meaning the first in their family to attend and subsequently graduate from college, their ebullience derives from a different place. Dogged determination, sacrifice and an ancestral dream fulfilled resonates differently, humbling the spirit and exciting the soul. Why not let a thousand flowers bloom?
We're now entering graduation season here in Texas and nationally.
My regards to all the high school and college graduates! You did it! You make your parents and your community proud! Your professors, too!
As for all of my own students, I couldn't be more happy or proud.
Congratulations!!!
-Angela Valenzuela
Oklahoma governor vetoes bill allowing graduation regalia
Special to ICT
With one swipe of the pen, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have allowed Native students to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.
The move drew a sharp response from tribal leaders – including leaders of the Cherokee Nation, where Stitt’s citizenship remains controversial – and civil rights advocates, who urged the legislature to override the veto.
“Should this bill become law, the proverbial Pandora's box will be opened for other groups to go over the heads of local superintendents and demand special favor to wear whatever they please at a formal ceremony," Stitt, a Republican who is enrolled with the Cherokee Nation, said in a statement to lawmakers announcing the veto.
He noted that “nothing in current state law prevents a school from allowing students to wear tribal regalia at their graduation ceremonies.”
Tribal leaders and rights advocates, however, said the bill would have guaranteed that right, as several school districts in Oklahoma already do not allow it.
“When students choose to express the culture and heritage of their respective Nations to signify this moment in their lives, it is not to ‘demand special favor to wear whatever they please,’ it is to honor their identity,” Muscogee (Creek) Nation Chief David Hill said in a statement.
“We must continue to communicate the unique aspect of this honor, and that allowing this expression is in no manner a gateway to introduce chaos and irreverence into formal ceremonies.”
Read more:
—Indigenous students settles lawsuit against school district
—Arizona law allows greater cultural expression at graduation
—Native students exercise right to wear regalia at graduation
The bill had broad bipartisan support in the state’s Legislature. The state House and Senate education committees unanimously endorsed the bill, known as SB 429, and advanced it to the floor of their respective chambers for a vote. The Senate approved the bill 45-0 on March 22; the House approved it 90-1 on April 24. Stitt vetoed the measure on Monday, May 1.
In Oklahoma, home to many Indigenous nations that were forced to relocate there in the 19th century, the lack of a guaranteed right to wear regalia at graduation is a reminder of past policies that sought to suppress Indigenous culture and force assimilation.
School district policies banning the wearing of Indigenous regalia at graduation ceremonies “compound the violence and oppression that these students and their communities have suffered,” wrote Heather L. Weaver, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
“Students who have resisted these dictates have had their sacred items confiscated or have been excluded from graduation altogether. While a handful of states have passed laws in response to these restrictions, the protections do not always apply to all Indigenous students, and many students still struggle to exercise their rights.”
