Posted on 11/22/2008 7:53:10 PM PST by nickcarraway
A Native American boy will be allowed to continue wearing his hair in a braid at school, after the superintendent of schools in St. Tammany Parish reversed an earlier decision that the child would have to cut his hair or wear his braid in a bun.
Superintendent Gayle Sloan has agreed to let 5-year-old Curtis Harjo adhere to his religious principles and wear his hair in a braid at Florida Avenue Elementary in Slidell, though the practice goes against the School Board's grooming policy with regard to hair length.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana and the Native American Rights' Fund represented Curtis and his mother, Joni Harjo, in their fight against Florida Avenue Elementary after Principal Elaine Motte said that Curtis could be expelled from school if he did not cut his hair.
Harjo appealed to Sloan, only to be told that Curtis would have to wear his hair in a bun to continue to attend the school.
Harjo contended that many Native American children where she is from in Oklahoma wear their hair long as part of a long-standing tradition.
As members of the Seminole tribe, the Harjos believe that hair should not be cut except when in mourning for a loved one.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Limiting the length of a male’s hair seems like idiocy to me. Do they also limit the shortness of female hair?
Back in the days, I had some pretty long hair. I wasn’t a “hippie” but I liked my hair that way. I washed it EVERY day and kept it well groomed. What’s the problem?
I wouldn't complain.
Gotta enjoy your hair while you can...
Mine was long too...
It’s gone now...
first they broke their treaties and stole the country from them, then they stuck them on reservations, and now they want to tell them how to wear their hair...despicable.
What is stupid is “Indians” wearing pony tails. They need to assimilate and become normal people.
political correctness is also stupid!
***first they broke their treaties and stole the country from them, then they stuck them on reservations, and now they want to tell them how to wear their hair...despicable.****
I remember an indian man in Oklahoma who wanted to honor his culture and wore long hair...That is until he got it caught in a rotating shaft and it jerked his entire scalp off just above his eye brows. SAFETY FIRST DUMBA$$!
they’re going to love the moslems.
“Gotta enjoy your hair while you can...
Mine was long too...
It’s gone now...”
I’m fortunate. At 53 I could still have the same long hair, although with a little more widow’s peak. Inherited that from my father, who at 77 has thinner hair, but still fairly full.
Here’s another little boy from Texas. This story was from July.
Native American beliefs clash with rural district’s dress code (5-yr-old boy)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2047354/posts
That's one of the most ignorant things I've ever heard. Who gets to decide what's normal? Do we get to make people wear normal clothes, express normal opinions, listen to normal music? What if someone decides you don't drive a normal vehicle? As long as the boy isn't disrupting class, he should be allowed his individuality.
After reading this and your other posts, I'm convinced you're trolling here from DU, posting completely idiotic statements, in an effort to discredit this site by making FReepers look like morons.
We seem to be getting many of you lately.
The Seminoles are one of the the five "civilized tribes." Which means the did assimilate and became normal people. They became Christian, they dressed like the Colonists, they spoke English, they accepted property rights, bought farms, raised crops and were pretty much integrated into the European-American culture.
That was until the real "civilized" people decided they wanted their property so they declared them to be savages and shipped them all to Oklahoma so they could take the land for free.
After they get to Oklahoma kinda the same thing happens all over again.
So maybe you might understand why they are leery of this whole assimilation thing.
What if carrying a bible and a pistol at all times are religious customs?
I am a native Oklahoman.Like most people even have a little Indian blood. Males wearing pony tails is not away to advance yourself in the 21st century. Those that have never assimilated are occupants of hellholes like the Rosebud Reservation.
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