Oklahoma law will soon confer on Native American students the right to wear traditional regalia during graduation ceremonies. The tribal regalia bill, SB 429, vests students enrolled in a public school district or in an institution within the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education with the right to “wear tribal regalia during the institution’s official graduation ceremonies, whether held at a public or private location.” Oklahoma is home to thirty-nine federally recognized Indian tribes, and over 156,000 Native American students. The Oklahoma Legislature, the Indian tribes, and tribal advocacy organizations that championed SB 429 should be commended for ensuring that Native American students in Oklahoma now unquestionably possess the right to proudly express their cultural heritage while celebrating their academic achievements. More importantly, SB 429 represents a clear rejection of the cultural assimilation policy once championed by the United States and educational establishments, and long-overdue restorative justice in the relationship between Native Americans and educational institutions.

During the 2023 legislative session, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed SB 429 by a vote of 80 to 11, and the Oklahoma State Senate passed SB 429 by a similar margin of 42 to 3. Upon receiving SB 429 bill with overwhelming support from the Oklahoma Legislature, however, Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed the tribal regalia bill. Governor Stitt—himself a citizen of the Cherokee Nation—attempted to justify his veto of SB 429 by explaining the legislation would open “the proverbial Pandora’s box… for other groups to go over the heads of local superintendents and demand special favor to wear whatever they please at a formal ceremony.” Governor Still believes the issue of wearing tribal regalia at a graduation ceremony should be left to individual school districts to address. Following receipt of the Governor’s veto, the Oklahoma House and Senate without hesitation cleared the two-thirds threshold needed to uphold the tribal regalia bill. SB 429 takes effect July 1, 2023.

Oklahoma is not breaking any new ground with the enactment of SB 429 into law. Oklahoma now joins a growing number of states with significant Native American populations that have codified the right of Native Americans to wear traditional regalia at graduation ceremonies. At least eleven other states have passed laws similar to SB 429 since 2017. The states that expressly empower Native American students to wear traditional regalia during a graduation ceremony include: Alaska (2022), Arizona (2021), California (2018), Kansas (2018), Mississippi (2020), Montana (2017), North Dakota (2019), Oregon (2021), South Dakota (2018), Utah (2022), Washington (2020), and most recently, Colorado (2023). The eleven states that have opened the “proverbial Pandora’s box” have not experienced the deluge of students from “other groups” wearing inappropriate items during graduation ceremonies the Governor cited as the basis for his veto. Governor Stitt’s “Pandora’s box” appears at best to be a red-herring, and ultimately just another action by the Governor consistent with his hostility towards Indian tribes and the rights of Native American people.

Although Native American students possess a constitutional right to wear eagle feathers at graduation ceremonies and many individual school districts in Oklahoma already permit Native American students to wear traditional regalia during these events, some school districts in Oklahoma have continued to resist or outright prohibit the attempts of Native American students to wear traditional regalia during their graduation ceremonies. For example, an Otoe-Missouria and Osage student recently filed a lawsuit against the Broken Arrow Public School District and two school district employees based on their removal of an eagle feather from her cap prior to a high school graduation ceremony. The lawsuit alleges that two Broken Arrow Public School District employees attempted to physically remove the eagle feather from the student’s graduation cap—damaging this sacred object in the process—and following the altercation, prevented the student from wearing the eagle feather during the ceremony. The extremely offensive and inappropriate actions of the Broken Arrow Public School District and its employees perfectly illustrate why SB 429 is vital and timely legislation for Native American students in Oklahoma.

Schools that take the same position as the Broken Arrow Public School District force Native American students and their families to make a difficult choice at what should be a time of celebration and joy: to either abandon their efforts to mark the unique significance of their academic achievements by wearing traditional regalia during a graduation ceremony or contest to the school district’s decision. Native American students and their families who find themselves in this position may not have the time or resources necessary to successfully challenge the decision of a school district prohibiting the student from wearing traditional regalia during a graduation ceremony. SB 429 removes the uncertainty Native American students and their families may face when deciding whether to wear traditional items during a graduation ceremony. With the enactment of SB 429 into Oklahoma law, Native American students will no longer have to unnecessarily worry about whether they will be able to freely display traditional items signifying their heritage during a graduation ceremony.

Native American people have a complicated history with educational institutions in the United States and Canada, particularly when it comes to the expression of traditional practices and cultural beliefs. Although many Native American people have been well-aware of this dark chapter in our Nation’s history for generations, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s very public acknowledgement and investigation of Indian Boarding Schools has educated the larger public on the atrocities the United States government, in concert with various educational and religious institutions, perpetrated against Tribal Nations and Native American people in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The federal government utilized Indian boarding schools to effectuate its official policy of cultural assimilation, which may be best reflected in the infamous words of Lt. Col. Richard Henry Pratt, headmaster of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania: “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” Although Indian boarding schools were discontinued in the mid-twentieth century, the actions of the Broken Arrow Public School District and Governor Stitt’s veto remind us that the policy of cultural assimilation lingers on within some institutions.

In this era of acknowledgement and reconciliation ushered in by Interior’s “Road to Healing” tour, officials representing state governmental and educational institutions should follow the federal example by explicitly permitting Native American students to proudly display traditional cultural items during their graduation ceremonies. By codifying in state law the right of Native American students to wear traditional items during a graduation ceremony, state officials can provide for long-overdue restorative justice in the relationship between Native Americans and educational institutions.