Posted on 06/03/2015 12:30:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Native American student who sued his California school district because it refused to let him wear an eagle feather to his high school graduation will be able to wear the sacred item after all.
Attorneys for Christian Titman and officials with Clovis Unified School District reached an agreement that allows him to wear the feather in his hair during the Thursday ceremony and attach it to his cap for the traditional tassel turn, said Rebecca Farmer, a spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, one of the groups representing Titman.
The district confirmed an agreement was reached Tuesday night and said it was ``largely consistent'' with previous offers made to accommodate Titman, 18. He is a member of the Pit River Tribe, which considers eagle feathers sacred and symbolic of a significant accomplishment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcbayarea.com ...
You may have a case!:
Arguments in favor of amending the law (notably by supporters of Religious Freedom with Raptors, an organization dedicated to changing the eagle law) have been made on the grounds that it imposes racial preferences and segregation not traditionally found amongst American Indian societies[2] and that the race requirement of tribal enrollment to possess eagles undermines tribal sovereignty rights to fully welcome and include others in tribal customs involving eagle feathers, thus harming the preservation of traditional values and practices of indigenous societies that have welcomed non-Indians for centuries. It is also argued that eagle permit certification restrictions based on race impede people with Indian ancestry but who may be unable to prove their ancestry, from exploring their heritage.[3][4]
But....wind farms can get “passes” on how many Bald Eagles they can kill a year.
American Indians are so overrated.
Hollywood and the media try to give the impression that people who are part Indian, or full blooded, are practitioners of the primitive religions of their ancestors, before there were Christians here, but in reality, there are less than 9,000 Americans claiming to practice Indian religions.
Don’t you think that most of those handful of people are faking it, as a political statement, or a conscious statement decision of some sort?
Eagle feather law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The eagle feather law provides many exceptions to federal wildlife laws regarding eagles and other migratory birds to enable American Indians to continue their traditional practices.
Under the current language of the eagle feather law, individuals of certifiable American Indian ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers. Unauthorized persons found with an eagle or its parts in their possession can be fined up to $25,000. The eagle feather law allows for individuals who are adopted members of federally recognized tribes to obtain eagle feathers and eagle feather permits.
Criteria of ownership
The eagle feather law has incited ongoing debate over the criteria of ownership and possession of eagles and eagle parts based on race or ethnicity and American Indian tribal membership. There have been several legal challenges to the eagle feather law in which the law’s constitutionality and effects of racial segregation and racial preferences have been called into question.
Presently there are a number of Indian and non-Indian individuals and organizations dedicated to amending the language of the law to allow American Indian tribes and tribal members greater opportunity to include select non-American Indians as acceptable owners of eagles feathers for religious and spiritual use[citation needed].
Defenders of the law have argued it is the only legal protection of American Indian spirituality[1] and that because eagle supplies are limited, increasing the number of people who can have them may make feathers more scarce.
Arguments in favor of amending the law (notably by supporters of Religious Freedom with Raptors, an organization dedicated to changing the eagle law) have been made on the grounds that it imposes racial preferences and segregation not traditionally found amongst American Indian societies[2] and that the race requirement of tribal enrollment to possess eagles undermines tribal sovereignty rights to fully welcome and include others in tribal customs involving eagle feathers, thus harming the preservation of traditional values and practices of indigenous societies that have welcomed non-Indians for centuries. It is also argued that eagle permit certification restrictions based on race impede people with Indian ancestry but who may be unable to prove their ancestry, from exploring their heritage.[3][4]
Supporters in favor of changing the law, such as Religious Freedom with Raptors, advocate removing racial requirements from 50 CFR 22, stating that because such action will enable all U.S. citizens to apply for eagles or parts from the National Eagle Repository (overseen by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service), it would extend the ability of government-regulated programs and agencies to protect raptors by decreasing the profitability of raptor poaching and trafficking.[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_feather_law
As always the story is pretty much half-assed and incomplete. In my tribe the young brave would have been given the eagle feather to mark his accomplishment. In this case high school graduation is probably his first feather. One gets rank by accumulating feathers and might get to be a chief someday. It would be instructive to know who asked if the feather was OK. Dam sure no one else in the school would have known what it was. Everybody wears pieces of krap in their hair, on their lapels, etc. If he had STFUAI and just wore the feather nothing would have been said. It would be equivalent to telling another grad that they couldn’t carry a Bible or koran or talmud, etc. during the ceremony and that just ain’t gonna happen. Or maybe he’s not quite a “brave” yet?
Over-rated? Keep it to yourself whitey. I’ll match my skill set against anything you think you got-—including inglish.
The only thing I could think of was him wanting to attach it to his tassle. But yeah - better to ask for forgiveness than permission in some cases. On the other hand, maybe there was a list of rules, and he wanted to be respectful of the rules while still following his traditions. Sounds like it worked out and perhaps everyone learned something from it.
Can’t help but contrast this to that loon that carried her rape mattress up on the podium for her college graduation.
I don’t know if this relates to the story exactly, but about 15 years ago, there was an elementary art teacher who had, during a hike or something, found a feather that was colorful and after being in possession of it for several years, decided to use the feather as part of some art project she was working on.
The project won some kind of award and a picture of it was put in the local paper. A couple of weeks later some federal officers appeared at her door and arrested her for violating some federal law against using anything from a protected species - in this case it was the feather, which turned out to be an eagle’s feather. I don’t remember which type of eagle is was, but she faced five years in federal prison plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I think she eventually was exonerated but in the meantime she had lost her job, house, and finances.
So, I’m wondering if this kid is violating some law. Maybe real native Americans like Elizabeth Warren are immune to such laws.
sure- Indians are one of the protected groups. Now someone should ask if they can wear a cross, then e crescent, then carry a Talmud, then carry a Koran...
the libtards will bang their heads off of opposing walls so fast it might knock some sense into them
The feather is most likely a family heirloom which had been passed down through the generations.
Goofiness is getting too widespread in America
And yet, if you’re not a “Native” American, you cannot possess a bald eagle feather. You’re not even allowed to pick one up off the ground.
if you identify as Native, you are native under today’s rules. BUT . . .
If you identify as Titman (name of the kid) AND . . .
Are actually an A$$man, woe be unto you.
We were kayaking last year and a bald eagle swooped low over us and flew down the river. The bird dropped a feather into the river. I told my kids “don’t you dare pick up that feather.”
There were actually three balds who flew over and in front of us for about a mile along the river, flying from tree to tree. It was pretty cool.
Yeah, and a school administrator can tell the difference between a pigeon and eagle feather...
/s
He should have ‘just done it’ (wasn’t that the whiny-boy Shia’s rant today?)
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