Judge grants another extension in graduation clothing case
At the request of the parties, the judge had granted a five-hour extension to an original deadline of noon Monday. But by 5 p.m. Monday no agreement had been reached. The judge then granted a second extension, this time until noon Tuesday.
“We’re still trying to work out a resolution,” said Don Porter, attorney for the Oelrichs school district. “We’re trying our best to get that done.”
After a three-hour hearing last Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Jeff Viken asked Aloysius Dreaming Bear, 19, and his attorney to sit down and work out an agreement with school board members and the school’s superintendent, all of whom he named in his lawsuit, by Monday at noon.
Viken said he would rule on the case if no agreement could be reached. But Viken said he felt the two parties needed to talk more and might be able to come to an agreement without him having to issue a ruling.
The two parties stayed at the courthouse Thursday night following the hearing, but failed to reach an agreement.
Whatever agreement or ruling is reached comes less than a week away from Dreaming Bear’s graduation. Leach filed the complaint May 3 on behalf of Dreaming Bear, arguing that the school board’s decision to not allow the student to wear his Native American clothing to the May 22 graduation is a violation of his First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit names board members Berline Fleming, Bonnie Anderson, John Cope, Lance Tlustos, Lisa Lockhart and school superintendent Lawrence Jaske.
Fleming and high school principal Charles Fredrickson attended the hearing last Thursday and Fredrickson testified. Dreaming Bear and Washington State University Native American studies professor Elizabeth Cook-Lynn testified on behalf of Dreaming Bear.
Cook-Lynn said Thursday that the historic background of forced assimilation of Native Americans shouldn’t be ignored in the case. In her view, the Oelrichs school board is continuing the oppression from the late 1800s and early 1900s, a time when private and government-run boarding schools “tried to stamp out the identity of (Native) children.”
Porter argued Thursday that the two –- cultural identity and a unified class in cap and gown -– don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
“Expression occurs throughout the ceremony,” he said.
Dreaming Bear approached the school board members in April, asking to be allowed to wear a beaded ribbon shirt with an eagle fan and medicine bag when he graduated.
Board members said he could wear the clothing under the cap and gown and after receiving the diploma, remove the cap and gown to show the traditional clothing for the remainder of commencement.
Since then, the board has agreed to include a feathering ceremony, which has been done at previous graduations, and allow star quilt presentations immediately after students step off the stage.
During testimony, Dreaming Bear said he didn’t know about the feathering ceremony or the quilting ceremony until after the April 12 board meeting.
Viken said it was those recent developments that made him believe the two sides needed to talk more and might be able sign a “joint declaration of council,” rather than a ruling by him.
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This case has gone on too long, it is time that this case is acknowledged for what it is : discrimination & suppression of Native culture and identity, further supporting the status quo of absolute dominance over the Indigenous Peoples.
What do you think about this case? Don't you think Mr. Dreaming Bear should be allowed to wear his traditional Lakota clothing? Do you think its ridiculous that the Federal Judge keeps putting off making a decision??
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