5 yr old Native American boy punished for wearing braided hair...

[cynatnite]

A supposed dress code exemption - granted by Needville school officials to allow a 5-year-old boy to wear his hair according to his religious beliefs - instead has become a “degrading and embarrassing” punishment, the American Civil Liberties Union says.

The ACLU, on behalf of kindergarten student Adriel Arocha and his parents, makes that contention in a suit it filed against the Needville Independent School District in U.S. District Court in Houston on Wednesday.

Since the sixth day of the school year, Needville Elementary School officials have placed Adriel in in-school suspension for coming to school with his hair tied in two braids worn outside his shirt.

“Upon arriving at his classroom every morning, Adriel is escorted away from his classmates and into another room where he sits with his ISS teacher for the rest of the school day,” the suit states.

“Adriel endures this segregation for over seven hours every day with no opportunity to engage in group learning or social play with other children during class or on the playground,” the suit states, adding that the Texas Education Code says ISS can extend for no longer than three days.

http://www.fortbendnow.com/2008/10/03/33347

In a strong rebuke of their actions, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that Needville Independent School District officials violated the constitutional rights of a kindergarten student and his parents, by not allowing the boy to wear his hair according to his Native American religious beliefs.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled that Needville ISD is permanently barred from forcing 5-year-old Adriel Arocha to comply with terms of a dress-code exemption policy the district created specifically for the boy.

That policy “violates not only Adriel Arocha’s free exercise rights, but also his rights to free expression and his parents’ due process rights,” Judge Ellison said in court documents released Wednesday.

The ruling came through a federal suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the boy and his parents, Kenney Arocha and Michelle Betenbaugh. The family sought an injunction to prevent school officials “from disciplining Adriel Arocha in any way that violates his rights to free exercise of religion or free expression,” which in Adriel Arocha’s case means being allowed to attend school with his hair kept in two long braids, worn outside of his clothing.

http://www.fortbendnow.com/2009/01/22/35023

You'd think people would be smarter than this given this country's shameful history of stripping away a person's cultural identity when the govt. forced the assimilitation of Native Americans.

[FLAprogressive]

1. more screwing over of native americans by the u.s. gov't.

And who cares if ANYONE wears braids to school...honestly it's not a "distraction".

[LittleClarkie]

25. How is this about the US government

It's about a school district in the wrong and a US court that set things right.

[marshall]

2. I didn't know such gender based dress codes still existed

I would have less of a problem with this if they also had similar gender based rules for girls--no slacks allowed, no hair shorter than shoulder length (which were both rules when I was in school). If you are going to enforce these stereotypical traditions then it should be across the board.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Not in my school district

No codes like this at all. And our kids wear uniforms, but there is nothing about hair in our dress code.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Ridiculous

Poor kid.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. And his hairstyle harms the other students exactly how?

It's probably some homophobic pea-brain who's thinking, "We can't have them boys wearin' their hair like gals. It might be catchin' and then we'd have a room full of five-year-old drag princesses."

[NOW tense]

6. Idiots no sense of history

This school is shameful

[Winterblues]

11. Not sure the purpose of your photograph

There are no braids apparent in the photo and it isn't the same school or for all we know the same Nation.

[jkshaw]

14. The pic's caption says it's from Carlisle, PA

[yellowcanine]

15. I think the point is that "Indian Schools" were used to strip native Americans of their culture.

And that photograph illustrates that. They are all dressed like white Europeans.

[NOW tense]

17. Exactly

If any school had any sense of history they would see that what they are doing is wrong.

[yellowcanine]

19. And forced hair cuts was one of the most notorious practices......

"Of all the changes students were forced to undergo at school, giving haircuts to
the boys was one of the most difficult. In Native culture, long hair was a proud thing
for young men."

http://reddcenter.byu.edu/Assets/Native%20American%20Boarding%20Schools_%20Primary%20Sources.pdf

[NOW tense]

22. My home town had an "Indian School" from 1892 to 1953

[yellowcanine]

24. "Indian Schools" were often many miles away to make communication with families difficult.

The thinking was if the government could keep children away from their families for about 3 years the children would be fully assimilated. It was a form of ethnic cleansing.

[Coventina]

31. "Indian School Rd" is one of the major streets in Phoenix AZ.

The old indian school is now a park.

[Sequoia]

66. I saw that road some years back when I was on the freeway.

Actually had to drive down it to another road looking for someone.

[Coventina]

70. Unfortunately, I've lived on & around it most of my life.

There was a big stink around here about 5 or 6 years ago about renaming a local hill called "Squaw Peak" & the local expressway "Squaw Peak Parkway" because it was offensive to Native Americans & women.

Well, my personal feeling is that "Indian School" is way more offensive, but no-one listens to me....

[8 track mind]

68. this hits close to home

My Great Great Great Grandmother was forcibly assimilated. She was a Cherokee and we think she was forced to marry a German immigrant. We've done a lot of cruel things in our history. All in the name of invisible cloud beings.

[arikara]

23. That photo is of kids in a residential school

when they took the Indian children away from their homes and families by force, hacked off their hair, made them dress like whites and beat them if they spoke their own language. From then on they got to see their families once a year if they were lucky. They were mentally, physically and sexually abused by cruel pedophile priests among others and this was meant to assimilate them into the white culture. It was foul and despicable and the effects of it are still reverberating throughout the native communities today.

The photo is very relevant.

[tblue37]

58. I believe the point is that these young Native Americans were removed

from their families and forbidden to speak their own language or dress according to their own cultural traditions. They don't have braids because their braids were chpped off (boys) or they were force to change their stlyle to match what whites considered appropriate (girls).

This country is now offically ashamed of how Native American children and their families were treated, yet this school is doing the same sort of thing!

[struggle4progress]

75. "... You force us to send our toddlers away

To your schools where they're taught to despise their traditions.
You forbid them their languages, then further say
That American history really began
When Columbus set sail out of Europe, then stress
That the nation of leeches that conquered this land
Are the biggest and bravest and boldest and best.
And yet where in your history books is the tale
Of the genocide basic to this country's birth,
Of the preachers who lied, how the Bill of Rights failed,
How a nation of patriots returned to their earth?
And where will it tell of the Liberty Bell
As it rang with a thud
O'er Kinzua mud,
And of brave Uncle Sam in Alaska this year? ..."

http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/mycount.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl08n8_b3Sw

[Chovexani]

64. What a heartbreaking photo.

And sad to see we have not progressed any since then.

[Number23]

71. That picture makes me want to weep. Literally...

And to think that this type of thing still occurs every single day in this country...

[DCKit]

7. The fascists are now terrorizing six year olds. Who'd a thunk it?

I'm thinking it's going to be worse before it gets better - they've got to be weeded out and ostracized before the rest of us will have any peace.

[LWolf]

8. Actually, I find that a dress code

prohibiting any student, regardless of their culture or beliefs, from wearing a braid or braids is blatantly authoritarian and anti-democratic. Absolutely not appropriate for any public school.

Dress codes? Yes. Dress codes should ensure safety. Requiring students to wear clothing that is appropriate for the weather (I always have at least one middle school student who tries to wear flip-flops in the snow, lol), that is an appropriate fit (one 8th grade girl showed up this week wearing a pair of sweat pants that hung all the way off her ass; the waistband was below her "cheeks,") and that is safe for the physical environment and expected physical activities, that does not promote hate, and that is not excessively distracting to others is fine.

Beyond that, it's a violation of civil rights. In my opinion.

[aikoaiko]

9. Idiot school administrators.

:spank:

[Ghost in the Machine]

10. .....

Cherokee Nation Lyrics
musician: Paul Revere And The Raiders

Cherokee Reservation
DON FARDON

They took the whole Cherokee nation
And put us on this reservation
They took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife

They took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan

Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die

They took the whole Indian nation
Locked us on this reservation
And though I wear a shirt and tie
I still part Redman deep inside

Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die

And some day when they've learned
Cherokee Indian will return
Will return will return
Will return will return

[Ms. Toad]

12. The court decision itself, at least the parts quoted

in the article, is well worth a read.

[ieoeja]

13. A public school bans long hair!?! n/t

:wtf:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. All sorts of that kind of silly stuff being tried around Califronia

Dress codes designed to impose uniforms without using the uniform word (brings in different legal protections). Hair length and styles. Only some messages on shirts are allowed. There is has also been racial aspects to it. Whites wearing corn rows getting hassled. Public schools are far from being bastions of fairness and equality on such issues

[Kalyke]

59. I know - around here they're calling it "campus gear".

Ain't that a hoot?

:eyes:

[bertman]

18. Just more bullshit from the fascists. This is outrageous at ANY public school.

[yowzayowzayowza]

20. Sounds like 'bout 8 miles down the way.

Texas. Ug.

[robinlynne]

21. braids? that' sowrth punishing a child for? braids? wow. I hope there is another school nearby.

I wouldn't want those people teaching my child!

[kentauros]

36. However, that is exactly why the parents remain.

I have another post here that goes into more detail through HoustonPress stories and it's worth reading them. The parents moved there and stayed because they felt the schools in that district were better than surrounding schools. Hopefully now, the issue is resolved, at least legally, and Adriel can get his education.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

26. I immediately thought of the HBO series Buried My Heart At Wounded Knee, when they

cut off the braids of the Native American boys upon entering boarding schools. Over a hundred years later, the same crap.

I say the series because I can't recall if that was mentioned in the book, which I read when it first came out. Although I don't remember many of the little details of the book, it was one of the best books I had ever read.

[Homer Wells]

27. K&R nt

[merh]

28. Where are the school/teacher apologists?

You know, the ones that post that everything a teacher does to a minor child is necessary and appropriate.

From punishing an 8 yr old special needs child for daring to wear a cow hoodie and for not understanding why she couldn't go to the christmas party to the segregation and banishment of a 5 year old for daring to wear his hair according to custom.

Get this teachers and school staff - the parents send their children to school, if you have a beef with how the child is dressed or how they wear their hair, take it up with the parent, stop blaming and punishing innocent children, minor children are not your tools to use when you want to feel powerful and authoritative.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. Teachers didn't take this child out of class; administrators did

Your anger is misplaced. So are your assumptions.

[merh]

39. My post is legitimate given the responses you and others

posted in the recent threads about school discipline.

How nice, now instead of blaming the child as you did in the other thread, you blame it on the administrators.

If you were his teacher, would you have objected to this behavior and insisted he be allowed to remain in your classroom?

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. He wasn't misbehaving

Maybe you need to go back and read the OP.

And you might want to read my responses as well. :eyes:

[merh]

44. The special needs child wasn't misbehaving either.

She wore a cow hoodie and the teacher didn't want her to wear it.

Comes down to authority gone over board.

Your posts here, in this thread, are safe, you can blame the administration and feel good.

BTW, you didn't answer my question. If that boy were assigned to your class and if he wasn't allowed to be a part of it, would you have stood up for him and his rights?

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. Why are you bringing up another thread?

Isn't that against DU rules?

I would think my responses in this thread answer your question. There is no need to break DU rules to make a point with me.

[merh]

55. LOL

To point out your inconsistencies and to challenge your credibility on this topic is not against DU rules. Please remember, you started this discussion, you replied to me, so don't try this weak dodge of the issues and accuse of me doing something I have not done.

You can't answer the question can you?

How sad for you.

[proud2BlibKansan]

63. I have already answered the question, merh

Read my responses in this thread. Read the first response I posted.

You are just trying to stir shit up. How sad for you.

[DemBones DemBones]

48. And no teacher defends administrators!

:rofl:

When I taught public school, I worked with seven different principals, not because I moved to other schools but because the county office kept assigning us new principals. Only two were truly concerned about the wellbeing of students or teachers and one of them was no good at maintaining discipline.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. You won't find me defending them

I have posted this before - 90% of the ones I have worked for have been worthless.

[DemBones DemBones]

61. People don't generally know that most administrators

spent only two or three years teaching before they moved into an easier, higher-paying job in administration. Therefore, they understand little about the realities of teaching kids with widely differing abilities, trying to keep the brighter ones busy while working with the average and slower learners, trying to make them all ready to pass the damned standardized tests. It's like juggling plates on sticks. Good teachers deserve so much more respect, and money, than they get.

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. And most administrators seem to want to supervise the adults

rather than administer to the kids and the school community. We deal with way too many public reprimands in my district. As the test score pressure increases, this is a growing problem.

The other thing I have noticed is almost every principal I know has said he/she became a principal to make more money. What a career goal, eh? LOL

[knitter4democracy]

73. Amen to that.

The principal at my kids' elementary is awful. The only reason that school is any good is because of the teachers and support staff. I volunteer there every Wednesday (attendance--because why would the secretary do attendance?, helping out in my son's class with reading, and lunch duty), and I'm more convinced every week that their principal is utterly worthless. She wears stiletto heels, for crying out loud! In my years of teaching, I never, ever saw a female principal wear heels like that or the short, tight skirts she wears. I call her Principal Barbie, but it's not really fair to Barbie.

[roody]

81. I am a teacher and in no way support this gross civil rights violation.

My public school also has uniforms. I wear one too.

[gaspee]

29. Wait a minute

A school district can say how long a kid's hair can be? WTF! Forced gender conformity, I'm guessing. What is it with these people? I see little boys with long hair all the time around here.

[WI_DEM]

30. don't schools have anything better to do? like teach.

[phusion]

32. Wow what an ignorant asshole this superintendent is...

Needville ISD Superintendent Curtis Rhodes implied earlier this summer that it was disingenuous of Adriel’s parents to seek a religious exemption from the district dress code because his American Indian father’s beliefs didn’t appear to be formalized.

“If they want to say it’s a freedom of religion issue - what religion are you?” Rhodes said at the time. “If you’re a Muslim and you have those religious tenets, that’s a known… But you have to have a sincerely held religious belief.”

[Triana]

51. what a jackass...

...the kid doesn't need to be "religious" - he was maintaining his culture which is very spiritual - moreso than "religious". And he was NOT hurting anyone by doing it.

Poor kid. This is CHILD ABUSE. :mad:

[The Straight Story]

33. Did he have a cow hoodie too?

;)

thanks for the article!

[kentauros]

34. I've been following this story in The HoustonPress since last year.

Here's their coverage history:

7/08/08
http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-07-10/news/a-native-american-family-fights-against-hair-length-rules

7/18/08
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2008/07/post_1.php

8/21/08
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2008/08/american_indian_hair.php

10/02/08
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2008/10/needville_arocha_hair.php

1/22/09
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/01/federal_judge_says_needville_s.php


I also work with a resident of Needville and though we are friends, we do lock horns on this issue. There are too many school districts locally that "have their rules" and are completely unyielding to any change or challenge like this one. Makes you wonder what the real underlying issues are...

[petronius]

35. Sounds like that superintendent was just a breath away from the phrase "real religion"

:eyes:

The district is wrong not to recognize the religious aspect, but the more general problem sounds like a gender-based rule on hairstyles - why should there be a problem with long hair on boys?

[Hepburn]

40. Reminds me of when I was in HS in the 1960s...

...and here I thought things had improved. Here are two great examples from my HS days of the 1960s:

1. Because of the Beatles, guys started in with "long hair." Like the Beatles really had LONG hair then??? LOL. So they were suspending guys with any kind of a "Beatle" hair cut or hair do. Well, the ENTIRE basketball team shaved their heads ~~ and, of course, were immediately suspended for having done that.

2. Mini shirts were the rage and us girls would get sent home or to the VP's office if our skirts were too short. So what did we do? Well, we wore our "granny" dresses and hung out with the guys with the shaved heads. We then got sent home cuz our skirts were too long ~~ they went to the floor.

And here I thought in the last 40 years school districts might have gotten some smarts. Guess not!

:hi:

[Hepburn]

38. This is utter stupidity on the part of the school district on a few points...

...not just totally out of line and stupid as to what they did to the child, but consider the waste of freaking money? IMO, there was money spent on utter bullshit stupidity that most certainly could have been put to a better use. I suggest a cultural awareness program for the administrators of the disctrict.

JMHO

[Catherine Vincent]

41. Here's a pic of the little cutey pie!

[Tsiyu]

52. What a doll n/t

[zbdent]

43. didn't his parents lurn nothin in the past 8 years?

he's in America ... look like an American!

[lostnfound]

45. Doing this to a 5 year old is tantamount to child abuse.

There, I've said it.
Argue it out with the parents if you are stupid enough to think that this is necessary, but in the meantime, don't segregate him in solitary.

Five friggin years old. WTF is wrong with these authoritarian narrow-minded creeps??

Not to mention the historical points elsewhere mentioned in this thread.

[proud2BlibKansan]

47. It's educational neglect, that's for sure

[Triana]

49. Sheesh. That poor baby. WTF is the matter with these "schools"?

:grr:

[Tsiyu]

50. Shit like this makes my blood BOIL

I can't believe assholes (whatever their race but probably Caucasian) are doing this in fucking 2009. Can't wrap my head around it at all.

Makes me want to..never mind :grr:

[prayin4rain]

54. That makes me so sad :( Poor kid n/t

[carlyhippy]

56. I am not condoning this at all

but could the other 5 year old boys be teasing and causing problems for this young man? Probably some young bubbas teasing this kid for his hair, and it was creating a problem in the class...It sickens me, this would be a perfect opportunity to teach all the kids about Native American culture and tolerance for others, and teaching the valuable lesson that it's ok for people to look different on the outside, but I guess it was easier for them to remove the kid, problem solved, instead of using this as a lesson to teach, it is a school, teach.....

[Mass]

60. Nothing like that. The parents asked the school district BEFORE

the kid went to school. The school district refused and proposed this stupid solution BEFORE the kid even got to school. It is about adult stupidity, nothing to do with the kid in this case.

[closeupready]

57. I once had a Puerto Rican boyfriend who claimed that the colonists envied the beautiful hair of the

Native Americans, and that this was one reason they were treated so horribly. Not sure how true that is, but this story made me think of him.

Anyway, it sucks what they've done, and they need to let him wear his hair long if he wants.

[TheKentuckian]

65. This is the kind of thing that makes me ashamed

of my country. This is wrong on about every level. Our children deserve much better and we should see to it they get it, even if it steps on a teacher or two's toes.

[L. Coyote]

67. Has anyone been fired yet? People need to be held to account for this cultural abuse!

[The Backlash Cometh]

69. This is just not acceptable.

Incredible. Just, incredible.

[JerseygirlCT]

72. And what is the obsession with hairstyles, anyway?

Honestly, don't they have more pressing concerns - like maybe educating those children well?

[knitter4democracy]

74. I've always wondered that myself.

During my last year of teaching before I had our kids, I had this amazing student, John. He wore his hair in an afro, which was neat, I thought. Not everyone can carry it off, but he did. When basketball season started (he was a star on the team), our principal made him get his hair in braids or cut off. I didn't know what was going on until he came into my room one day with his hair in braids and a bandaid on his mouth. I almost cried in front of my whole class at the power of the symbol, and I got his friend to explain to me what was going on. During my next break, I stormed downstairs and demanded the vice principal change the policy, but she said she agreed with the principal--that the afro violated our dress code in that it was a "modern hairstyle." The afro?! I asked her if she wanted me to do some research on that, and she said not to bother, that the principal had gotten complaints from alumni (Catholic school) about his hair and so he had to change it.

Why the heck do we care so darn much? That little one should have his hair like that and wear it proudly!

[JerseygirlCT]

76. And because someone else didn't like his hairstyle, he had to change it.

What kind of stupid message did that send? Wow. Well, I suppose that guy learned a powerful lesson - not the way you'd have wanted him to learn it, though...

Maybe the principal should have had the alumni vote on his/her hairstyle to see if it should be changed?

[knitter4democracy]

78. He was furious and rightfully so.

He felt he was being silenced, and he was. It went too far with the dress code, to be honest. Hair is quite personal, and I think that as long as it is clean, that's all that should matter.

He was one of my favorite students that year. An alum had seen him play basketball for the public school and decided he wanted him at our school and so paid for him to be there. He was living with his mom and sister in the projects when we got him, and he'd never done homework or written an essay in his life--and we got him almost at the end of his junior year. Needless to say, my class was a shock, and he flunked the first quarter even with me and his coach on him all the time. He sat down with me, I explained a few things, a family took him in when his mom disappeared, and that kid went from a very low F to a C+ by the end of the year--only student I ever had who did. His counselor and I busted our butts getting him into a nearby college (mostly to play basketball, but they were worried about his grades, so I wrote two recommendation letters), and he graduated and sounds like he's doing well. His poetry was stunningly powerful, but he'd never let me enter it anywhere. He's still one of the best poets I've ever read--short and gut-wrenching stuff.

[JerseygirlCT]

79. Wow. That's a powerful story. Sounds like you're the

best sort of teacher - the one lucky kids get!

[knitter4democracy]

80. I haven't taught in years, but it looks like I'm going to have to go back.

I've been a SAHM for over 8 years, but now that my husband's divorcing me so he can be with his latest mistress, I'm going to have to go back to work. I've been missing teaching more and more lately, so I'm taking that as a sign that it's time to get back in the classroom.

[JerseygirlCT]

82. Sure sounds like you're needed.

Your loss (of home time) may be a whole lot of students' gain!

[FedUpWithIt All]

77. That is sickening.

I hope the boy's family sticks it to the narrow fools.