The Chamberlain School Board finds discussion of its refusal to include a Native honor song in its graduation ceremony that in April it banned the subject from further discussion at its meetings, and maybe forever. The Chamberlain School Board has also tightened the rules for members of the public to place their issues on the official agenda, requiring longer notice ahead of time.
The Mitchell Daily Republic sees this increased oppression as unnecessary and possibly unconstitutional:
The latest moves to squelch public debate are particularly unsavory. The First Amendment to our national Constitution includes the right of Americans to petition their government for a redress of grievances. That right doesn't only cover the circulation of printed petitions. It's a right that's been broadly interpreted as applicable to all levels of government and covering activities such as communicating with elected officials and organized lobbying. "In modern America," says the First Amendment Center, "petitioning embraces a range of expressive activities designed to influence public officials through legal, nonviolent means."
We're not constitutional scholars and can't say whether anyone's rights are being violated in Chamberlain. It seems clear to us, though, that at least the spirit of the First Amendment is under attack when local government leaders go out of their way to shut down public discourse on a matter of public concern [editorial board, "Hardened Views Against Honor Song Violate Spirit of 1st Amendment," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2014.05.08].
Shutting out public input on a specific topic violates basic tenets of representative democracy. Suppose members of the community waged a successful public relations campaign. Suppose Chamberlain folk were swayed by the letter from The King Center, a letter the board ignored, and they wanted to come en masse the the school board to ask for a change in policy to acknowledge the sizable Native American population among their graduates and families. The board has made it impossible for citizens to be heard, now or perhaps ever.
Against such intransigence, the only remedy appears to be the ballot box. Chamberlainers, vote the bums out.
Wow, they have a mini dictatorship going in Chamberlain? Who would have thought.
The SCOTUS decision blessing christian prayer has emboldened the frightened huddled god and guns folks.
Didn't we have this singing debate last year? I was all for this singing. I dare say, why didn't they vote the board members out?
This is just plain wrong. I can't understand why people make such a issue over a positive song
Unless the songs are too long, Mr. Oldguy, I am with you. If any song is too long it must be banned from any event. Shorter is better. Let them sing away.
Let's devote a week for graduation and have songs for every ethnic group. Poetry and prose as well. Make it a regular festival for everybody instead of just a few expecting special rights.
Understand, I mean any song whatsoever. Honor song, battle hymn, show tune, nursery rhyme, rap dance. Too long, it's out. Otherwise, that's fine.
Weel,you know,if your a Mexican and here illegally you can't very well expect to have the school play Mexico's National anthem. I mean,if you can't assimilate and adhere to the customs of your adopted home,what was the point of coming here. You are guests,not colonialists. When you are in the heart of Lakota Land,do as the white school board members say. My apologies for getting history wrong,again.
Mike, if that's the case we should all be listening to the Ree Marching Song during all these gradiations and things. As long as it is short!
What I can't figure out is why the Chamberlain School Board wouldn't have just allowed this to begin with. It was not a big deal to add another musical piece to a graduation. If they were worried about time, then they tell the high school choir to sing one less song. But let's face it, no one is going to notice adding another 3 to 5 to 10 minutes to the ceremony. Chamberlain is a small school, so the ceremony is probably already less than half the time as that at a Sioux Falls or Rapid City school. However, to many of their students and district taxpayers, this is a huge thing. Even if the issue wasn't so to begin with, now, everyone looks at the the Chamberlain board – and thus the voters in Chamberlain – as being racists. It is the simplest explanation, and hopefully, that isn't the case, but people tend to believe the simplest explanations.
I certainly won't be doing any business in Chamberlain and I will be sure to tell all my MN friends to boycott the town on their way to the Hills. South Dakota - you really need to quit getting such negative press!
Jenny, nobody really stops in Chamberlain anyway, do they?
Gas, food, lodging, boating, fishing.
Jenny, you are possibly confusing Oacoma with Chamberlain. Oacoma is in Lyman county. Chamberlain is in Brule county. And my analysis on Minnesota visitors to the Black Hills shows that less than 1% stop to boat or fish at the Missouri river at either Chamberlain or Oacoma on their way through. Fully 76% drive all the way to Rapid in one day, and of the 22% who take 2 days, 86% of those people spend their night in Mitchell.
Because the two different towns share a common school district, you should be sure to tell them to not buy donuts at Al's Oasis. You can tell them not to buy gas, but they should do some math before making that decision.
Personally, I like the native songs/prayers. My only request would that the cultural significance and a short English translation be somehow provided to us non-Lakota speakers. I think that an explanation like this would maybe make the native prayer more likely to be accepted by the non-natives.
For those Native Americans graduating from high school at Chamberlain that are not seeking "special rights", but equal rights, I would encourage them to either boycott the graduation ceremony totally or once they have all received their diplomas, to walk off the stage in unison. Maybe some non-Natives would join them.
Enough of the arguing with the racist school board and the city fathers, it is past time to take action.
Take your protest signs to DC. Just don't let the POTUS see them or you'll find the true meaning of your 1st amendment rights.
What protest signs Les?
Now that POTUS has taken away your guns, are now fearing he will take away your 1st Amendment Rights too?
There are daily protest in front of the White House, and haven't seen President Obama taking away anybody's signs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone
Isn't the point of graduation to celebrate the completion of high school?
Life is too short not to laugh, to sing and to dance every chance we can get.
grudzhnick - for your information the two new school board members elected last year did vote for the honor song this year. You can only vote so many out each year. There is another election coming up in June with a couple of people from Ft. Thompson running for the school board. With a good voter turnout from those who agree with the honor song a couple of new board members who support the honor song would be elected. Those in favor of it would then have the majority on the school board. So there has been an attempt to vote the backward thinking members of the school board out and it is happening.
Won't the honor song honor all who are graduating ?
Oldguy hits the nail squarely on the head.
Keep working, Duane... and tell those Fort Thompson candidates to contact me. I'd like to publish what they have to say about the honor song and other issues facing the Chamberlain school district. Is the election same day as the primary?
"Won't the honor song honor all who are graduating ?"
No, it will insult 70% of the students and more including the Native American students who have no desire to return to the mythology of the 1870s.
And Wiken raises his racist head
Cornelius raises his empty head. Why is it racist to not be enthralled with native mythology, but not be racist to insist on forcing such mythology on non-Native Americans. The race card Cornelius insists on playing when any issue is raised has two sides.
You win Wiken.
White privilege always does in South Dakota.
Keep posting those excuses for failure of Native Americans in South Dakota. One excuse is as good as all the others.
The worst excuse for a South Dakotan is Doug Wiken.
There must be parallels between the Miller School and Chamberlain controversies: white privilege looks like the flour paste that binds the two.
Congratulations to the 32 graduates of Marty Indian School. Congratulations to the 21 graduates of Crow Creek High School. Congratulations to the 10 Graduates of Oelrich School. Congratulations to the 13 Graduates of Lower Brule High School. Congratulations also to several Native American graduates of Winner High School.
Those are a few I found in the NATIVE SUN NEWS and the WINNER ADVOCATE.
The last thing these Native American graduates need are the accolades from an avowed racist.
Maybe they need to read to read Ivan F. Star Comes Out who wrote, " I cannot imagine what our reservation society would be like if we produced a nation of people that genuinely thought well of themselves. Perhaps this is what the federal government is trying to prevent. On the other hand, we cannot justly blame the federal government because we are the only ones preventing us from taking our own destiny into our own hands."
If the delusional Wiken would put his hate button on pause for a few minutes he would realize that I have never attempted to provide an "excuse" for Native Americans on this thread or any other.
What I have said and will repeat is that Native Americans are not seeking special rights, they are seeking equal rights for the graduation ceremony.
Indian schools also perform graduation ceremonies that include Lakota ceremonies and honor songs along with the traditional graduation, as we know them.
Wiken, you have repeatedly made the point that you don't believe in mythology, that is your right, but it means nothing to the Native Americans that believe in their traditional culture. After all is said and done Wiken, there is nothing you can say or do to change their beliefs.
All you have remaining is being an angry old white man, surely have a better way to spend your life.
Very good Roger! Kudos.
I think Mr. Wiken is a bit insaner than most, but I too congratulate all graduates of all of our highschools. If I were graduating I would like to hear an honor song. I really can't imagine anybody graduating not wanting to hear an honor song.
Just seems odd to me.
Vote out the assholes in Winner.
Douglas, I disagree that the honor song revists a failed mythology or somehow throws us back to the 1870s. The Lakota are real South Dakotans. They live among us. Their kids go to school with our kids. Their honor song means something to them, here and now. It is not an escape or an illusion. It is as meaningful to them as any of the words or music that we invaders have imposed upon them.
Including a Lakota honor song in the ceremony would be an insult only to those who may deserve some insult. Including the song would be a remarkable gesture of reconciliation. It would provide white students with an opportunity to receive that honor just like the Lakota students. All students could view that song not just as some parochial, separatist expression belonging only to a minority. Being so honored might expand every graduate's sense of community.
Maintain your romantic illusions about reality. Tribalism and its consequences are evident in Africa, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudia Arabia, etc. Those should all send a message to Native Americans that tribalism is a recipe for conflict, corruption and harmful inbreeding leading to defects like those in Arabian tribes. There is no open range, no hide for tents, no free-running horses compliments of the Spanish. The world has changed for all of us not just Native Americans. My grandfather went from a period with only steam ships and horse-drawn wagons for transit to seeing men land on the moon. He was not advocating fishing the ocean and moving cows back and forth to mountain pastures, and making his own shoes as anything but an irrelevant memory associated for him mostly with poverty.
Doug: your own mythology is showing.
http://www.solsticeproject.org/lunarmark.htm
As Wiken continues to live in his anti-mythology little world, the rest of us in the real world learn to tolerate and respect that romantic mythology that exists in all cultures and societies, not just Native American. As with all cultures, not just Native American, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Sioux tribalism and traditions go far beyond the 1870's benchmark Wiken sets. They go back centuries, and like all cultures change from time to time to reflect current social influences. There were no high school graduations or honor songs in the 1870's.
Wiken lives in neatly packaged white privilege world, where anything that deviates from his personal beliefs are bad for his white world.
The fact of the matter is that tribalism has existed since the beginning of time, I'll add once again that Wiken can't change history and he can't change today.
Tribalism for those early cultures and what we know today have served as a protection mechanism for their very existence, and most importantly for the protection of human life. It is quite likely that if it were not for that structure that protected tribal people, I would not be here today. Wiken would likely be happy with that.
Not all tribes and their members want to be a part of Wiken's white world that is governed by meaningless laws and material influence.
So you Roger don't live by meaningless laws and material influence? Those who want to believe that mythology useless in this age is somehow valuable without ever specifying how or why are welcome to their non-reality.
The professionals of racial specialness and special rights are leading Native American children down a dead end. They should not be greeted with naive support. They are intellectual abusers of children and their futures. They also with the aid of the ACLU suckering for their wild tales waste tens of thousands of tax dollars. Tax paying is the essence of Roger's imagined "white privilege".
These times are tough enough for children of all colors and beliefs. They do not need useless mythological baggage preventing them from using their talents and abilities.
PRIVILEGE 101, Harvard. got any citations for useless mythological baggage, wik?
So Wiken, with your anti-mythology mindset, am I to assume that you do not celebrate Christmas, Easter, or any other religious holidays dumped on us by Europeans.
High school graduations have become an American "tradition" and "ceremony", does your belief prevent you from attending your children's or friends graduation and bowing your head when they play Pomp and Circumstance or any of those age old musicals?
Wiken further enforces his position on white privilege equals paying taxes for Native American education. Wiken, INDIANS DO PAY TAXES!
I defy you to explain to the graduates of Chamberlain High School that the ACLU is ruining their lives and costing them their futures. And of course "your taxes" are paying for it all. Wiken believes that Native American students will be forever cursed if there is an honor song played.
Native American students aren't sheep, Wiken. They'll choose some of the ideology and laws that the ACLU supports or they won't. What they ACLU does do whether or not they fail in their efforts, is show Native American students that they do have a voice and that they do have rights.
How I choose to live is none of your business Wiken, the choices I make are mine.
There are thousands of Native Americans across this land that "choose" to live in very humble circumstance, they have rejected most of the white man influences and survive quite well, it is best to protect them and preserve their lifestyles, mythology included.
Times are tough for Native American youths, often times they have to make the choice to leave their tribe for better tidings, this is traumatic and life altering. It is the toughest decision they'll ever make. What makes times even tougher for these youngsters are the sentiments of typical South Dakotans like Wiken.
Like the generations before them, they go through South Dakota life knowing that there are Wiken's out there that hate them because of who they are and the world that they were born into.
Mr. C, I understand your frustration with that fellow but he seems insaner than most and I don't think you can reason him around.
grudznick says "Yes to honor songs."
Shorten up a speech somewhere by a fat cat administrator to keep the ceremony to a reasonable length.
Roger I would of been honored to have an honor song at my graduation years ago. It's part of the educational experience.
""Typical South Dakotans like Wiken"""
I like mythology.
Whether it's reading The Odyssey with its constant reminders that to be human is to be troubled or the Navajo story of Coyote and Water Monster, they're damn fine stories.
I suppose it's possible to live a life without thinking about truth, goodness, beauty, liberty, equality, or justice; I just wouldn't want to. I suppose one could go through life without thinking about the wonder of existence and sharing the joy of success with others. I wouldn't want to do that either.Myth provides the basis for all of those experiences.Quite frankly, it's impossible to get to rational world that Western Civilization claims to prize without myth.
If the honor song is indeed myth, it likely allows for expressions of beauty or wonder. It likely has a universal element like the heroic quest that populates the stories of every culture. If nothing else, allowing the song would remind the rest of us that justice is not only what the strongest elements in a society say it is. Socrates stole that idea from myth.
"hat you do not celebrate Christmas, Easter, or any other religious holidays dumped on us by Europeans." Your right on this Roger. That mythology and similar religious mythology is dangerous if viewed as anything other than interesting fiction. And, those holidays weren't dumped on us by Europeans who were still celebrating woodland nymphs.
I won't waste a minute or a dime or a drop of sweat trying to take your mythology away from you. I don't give a tinker's damn what you think or believe Roger. You are welcome to your delusions and mythology. I wouldn't do anything to force you to do anything unlike you who think it is appropriate to force parents and children to listen to drums and chanting that means nothing to them.
I also think schools would be better off dumping all music if for instance Pomp and Circumstance is anathema to the ears of Native American students.
You can put up all kinds of strawman arguments, and outright lies like those you told about the post office and the REA and libel me as a racist, but your pushing for irrelevant mythology of a particular race is 100 times more racist than I am.
If Native Americans want to listen to pounding drums and engage in other prairie ceremonies let them do it in their own organizations and location. The rest of us should not be forced to tolerate that anymore than you or any of the rest of us should be required to tolerate public prayer at public meetings by our bureaucrats and representatives.
Wiken,
I didn't realize that you lived in Chamberlain and were planning to attend the graduation ceremony and be forced to listen to drums.
As far as those bureaucrats and representatives, the public needs them for services, like paying individuals $70,926 in taxpayer dollars for farm subsidies, because a farmer can't make it on his own
Fox's Bill O'Reilly Falsely Claims Harvard Requiring Class On White Privilege, Calls It "Inherently Racist"
Blog ››› May 14, 2014 11:15 PM EDT ››› ALEXANDREA BOGUHN
lesliengland,
The title of the class should be, White Privilege & Government Entitlement.
Roger, I didn't realize you lived in Chamberlain and were there just to listen to those absent drums and lobby for all those Native American children to walk out of their own graduation and explain to them they have no obligation to observe meaningless laws of the evil white man.
What Chamberlain and other schools might do is forget the speeches and the music and let each graduate tell the audience in a short comment what they hope to do after graduation. Give every one of them a minute in the sun if they want it. If it really is their day, give it to them.
Wiken,
I have never hinted at living in Chamberlain or going to their graduation. What I have done is consistently advocated for the graduates equal rights regardless of how Doug Wiken feels about his judgmental stance on mythology.
You seem to have a vested concern for the harm an honor song would do Native Americans so I thought you might live there and be able to enlighten them as to their evil beliefs.
Wiken, you operate your farm in the heart of Indian country, do you have the courage to tell the good people of the Rosebud to their face how damaging their "mythology" is?
Have you ever been invited to a Todd County High School graduation where a honor song is performed. I can't imagine a Native American student inviting you, but maybe a non-Native did.
You can have every opinion in the world about how graduations should be performed, Doug Wiken will not change them. The only change that is forthcoming is that eventually Chamberlain High School will change for the better and recognize the honor song and Native Americans will attain their equal rights.
Your damning advocacy and demeaning comments against Native youth will only serve to reinforce my advocacy and that of others that believe in equality to work harder for the Native American students.
Since the adults "in charge" can't make the intelligent decision, why not let the senior class vote and decide if they want to include the honor song during their graduation ceremony? I'm sure the fact that nearly 40% of the class is Native American is the reason why; the class would most likely vote in favor of it.
I have never made a demeaning comment against Native Youth. I have stated they have the same abilities to learn science, physics, biology, botany, math, etc as any similar group of whites. I don't think they should need excuses built around whether or not a Lakota or Dakota "honor song" is involved with any graduation. Roger apparently thinks that some wonderful results will come from hearing an honor song. I disagree and think it leads them down a dead-end path that has little if any future in the reality of the modern world.
Chamberlain should get rid of all music if the Native American students are offended by Pomp and Circumstance. For all I care they can mail the diplomas and put an ad in the local paper honoring everybody. They can do the same thing here as well. Thinking back on our own graduations, I doubt any of us would miss anything by doing away with the ceremony per se. I certainly don't remember the blather of the main speaker or even who it was for that matter. I suspect that is the case for most high school graduates a few years or even a few months after they are graduated.
I have seen professionals of ethic specialness and special rights operating in the Winner School district. Nothing what so ever good has come out of it other than one Native American woman getting a job in the school system.
The resulting discipline break down has caused many Winner students to leave the system and transfer to other schools. Teachers with years of experience have had it with the discipline breakdown and are leaving the system.
Roger and cohorts are not doing anything whatsoever to improve the education of Native American Children. The parents of those children need to get interested in actual education rather than whether or not their children get on an athletic team. Read the rest of the column in the Native American paper from Rapid City. I quoted only the concluding paragraph.
Dammit Wiken, are you being deliberately obtuse or you just obtuse?
We are talking about a simple honoring song celebrating the achievements of Native American high school graduates. It is not a gesture that will effect their performance in life.
In your world you would deny all graduates a celebration because you believe the Lakota traditions are evil and therefore should not be encouraged. No music, no ceremony, mail the diplomas, all because Wiken doesn't want to all a traditional honoring song. Good luck in getting that done Wiken.
Lakota youth and elders alike, live in and accept two entirely different cultures, hopefully taking the best of both worlds. Fortunately they haven't brain washed and indoctrinated entirely into the world of white privilege and entitlement.
You falsely claim that you haven't demeaned Native youth, you attempt destroy the foundations of their beliefs and chastise their behavior and struggles in the classroom. If that is demeaning, you don't know the meaning of the word.
$70,926
Will the town of Chamberlain allow us (Native Americans)to treat them the same way they are treating us when they become the majority in their own school system? Chamberlain has chased away and continues to chase away their future generations. Just look at their population decline in the last ten years. They have lost nearly 4% of their population. Their own children do not want to live there. The median age for Chamberlain is 46.7 years of age. The median age for Crow Creek and Lower Brule is 21 years of age. We as Native Americans will become the majority of the school population within the next 5 years. Which leads me back to my original question. Will the city of Chamberlain allow us to treat them the same way they are treating us when we become the majority in what once was their school system and it is now become our school system?
Mr. Cornelius,
Did you really mean to say that you would encourage the children to boycott graduation? Seems to me that we had a conversation about white racism awhile back, where I encouraged you to contact the US Attorney or the Department of Justice, and your response was that you thought it would be better if it worked itself out instead of involving them.
Was beginning to think you had some things in common with Larry Kurtz and Bill Fleming, but guess not, it appears you will talk the talk but prefer that someone else walk the walk.
oh please. boycott chamberlaine and oacoma on the interstate perhaps. they deserve it. create a scene at the graduation is ill advised but the school board is certainly tilling circumstances ripe for reaction. I've been watching wiken's usually unprovoked tripe since he opened his mouth about the broadcast tower on sacred hilltop. roger has excercised class and restraint with this guy to no avail. pehaps it's dementia we are dealing with, rather than racism but I don't buy his rationalization about mythology and best interests of lakota children. they can hop out of the sweat envigorated and google with the best of their generation.
Joseph g thompson,
Some time ago I explained that I would never inject myself into the issues of another tribe other than to comment or encourage them. It is not my place to take legal action in this case, it is the responsibility of the Natives at the Chamberlain school to do that, if they choose. Hopefully someone in the Native American community has contacted the Justice Department Division of Civil Rights.
I have spent a life time fighting for equal rights not just Native American rights and find your comment that I "don't walk the walk" insulting. I'm content to know that people that people and groups that I have worked with over the years know what I am about and the work I have done.
The Chamberlain school board is denying native students and 3 or 4 minute song to honor their achievement and I find that grossly wrong and inexcusable. This issue is about that right being denied, it is not about me.
There are times when extreme measures are required to implement needed change, this is one of them. If a boycott of the graduation ceremony, and like lesliengland and others have suggested, a boycott of the town Chamberlain is needed, they should do it.
Actually what I said about a boycott, is that once the students received their diplomas, they should exit the stage in unison.
$70,926
inbred? child abusers? professional specialists in excuses and apologists? mythology? where do you get these ideas as you back into a corner? a watching friend has suggested indian kids stay home on annual "count" day resulting in the loss to the school district of several thousand per from the fed. govt.