Stephen White Eagle approached the Rutherford County School Board Thursday evening to fight for his son’s right to wear an eagle feather in his graduation cap.
White Eagle’s son is a senior at LaVergne High School and he says school administrative staff and district administers told his son he wouldn’t be allowed to weather the feather because of school policy.
“My son and I have been told that his religious beliefs do not fit into the school’s policy and that is unfair and unconstitutional,” said White Eagle.
White Eagle and his son are part of a federally recognized Native American tribe. They use the eagle feather in their tribal dances, ceremonies, and when they pray every day. The eagle feather is considered sacred to White Eagle’s family and represents honesty, truth, power, and wisdom.
“Although our religious beliefs and practices are not what many of you are accustomed to, they are still our ways of practicing our religion,” said White Eagle.
White Eagle compared the eagle feather to the Christian cross and told school board members that telling his son that he is not allowed to wear his feather is a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
He said that young Native Americans receiving the equal feather is as important as receiving a diploma.
“There are no state laws in Tennessee that prohibits my son from wearing this eagle feather. And I hope that speaking here tonight to you all on the board that I have changed your minds of you allowing my son to wear his traditional eagle feather at graduation on his graduation cap, and we can work as a community to respect and acknowledge all students’ individual identities and value all religions and not make one more important than the other,” said White Eagle.
Those words did not fall on deaf ears.
Board member Tammy Sharp swiftly put in a motion to allow White Eagle’s son to wear the eagle feather on his graduation cap. Sharp told board members that she was married to a Native American adopted from the South Dakota Rosebud Reservation.
“This is not a fight that we want to fight. I’m going to put a motion on the table to allow this gentleman to wear that on his hat,” said Sharp. “This is something we don’t need to mess around with, he should be able to wear that. I’m sorry that it got to this point that someone did not reach out to someone else.”
Board member Rosales seconded the motion, saying that she’s doing it on the basis of freedom of religion.
“We allow other folks to wear symbols that are religious purposes and I agree with Ms. Sharp. We should allow others the same and for those freedom when it comes to freedom of religion,” said Rosales.
Board members voted unanimously to pass the motion.
