Legislators need to give Native students path to justice on tribal regalia rights | Letters

Who is responsible for protecting Native students' rights to wear tribal regalia?

The early years of this country exemplify the calculated efforts of the government to extinguish the cultural practices and religions of Native Americans. The federal and state policies that focused on outlawing Native American religious practices is a dark time in history, but is also parallel to the issues many Native American students are experiencing today during graduation ceremonies.

State Bill 429 was enacted to protect the rights of Oklahoma’s Native American students to wear tribal regalia during school events including graduation ceremonies. Public schools are banned from creating and enforcing policies that ban tribal regalia or discriminate against Native American students who wear tribal regalia.

The law does not list any consequences or penalties for school districts that violate the law. There is no administrative body assigned to handle reports of noncompliance. There may be times when a Native American student is having their right to wear tribal regalia violated as they are attending the graduation celebration and have no time to file any type of legal injunction. They or their guardians would likely need to shell out thousands of dollars for legal representation. There is no compensation for injury in this law and even if they took a case to court, what could the outcome even be if the graduation has already occurred? This lack of penalties makes way for schools to blatantly ignore the rights of the Native American students.

The Oklahoma Legislature needs to meaningfully work on passing an amendment to ensure that if Native American students have their religious and cultural rights violated, they have a path to justice.

— Kendra Lowden (Potawatomi/Osage), Shawnee

Maybe we should shift our sights north

Oklahoma’s children are not faring well. They are suffering in most measures of national standards of health, economics, education and general well-being. The latest sad Oklahoma showing comes from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s recent national information and report.

Oklahoma’s children ranked 40th in overall child well-being. The poorest showing came in education with the state 49th out of the 50 states. Only New Mexico lagged behind Oklahoma.

Can we do better? In matters of business climate and taxes, we probably do compare favorably with other states. Recent Oklahoma governors have even suggested our state is a likely “top 10 state.”

We most always want to compare favorably with Texas. In most child well-being factors, we seem to be already in a league with Texas. Texas generally ranks about as low as Oklahoma in these national measures.

But, can we do better if we shift our vision a little? What if we compare Oklahoma to Kansas? Our northern neighbor seems to rank much higher than Oklahoma in every significant measure.

Kansas ranks 19th in overall child well-being to Oklahoma’s 46th ranking. Kansas ranks 12th in economic well-being to Oklahoma’s ranking of 39th. Texas comes in even lower with a 41st economic ranking. We do come closer to Kansas in education, yet a wide gap in the two states’ ranking remains.

Maybe it is time we look in another direction for our public policy inspiration. We should ask ourselves and our state’s public and private leadership just what is it that Kansas seems to be getting right. Maybe there are ideas in our northern neighboring worth trying in Oklahoma.

— Jerry Edward Stephens, Edmond

Bibles in every fifth- through 12th-grade classroom?

State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters announced on national television that starting immediately, every public-school classroom in Oklahoma from 5th through 12th grade is to have a Bible in it, and teachers are to teach from it. He later published a statement that instruction will follow directing what is to be taught, "to insure uniformity."

As a Bible believer (I have a theology degree from a Bible college), I love the Bible, but I’m absolutely appalled by this action by a school leader who has tried since his election to force his own agenda on schools.

Aside from whether or not Oklahomans might like the Bible in schools, as a practical matter, we can anticipate dozens, if not hundreds of lawsuits that our schools and government will have to defend, at a cost of millions of dollars that could have gone to improvements in schools as well as services to those in need or road and infrastructure upkeep.

But on another level, the United States is composed of not only Christians, but those of many other faiths, or no faiths. I would be ashamed to force those parents to stand helplessly by as their children are being taught---in public schools that they support through their taxes---a religion they don’t embrace, even as I wouldn’t want my children to be indoctrinated in Islam or any other religion in school. Religion should be the responsibility of parents, not schools!

The First Amendment to our Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

― Ed Koonce, Mustang

'Separation of Church and State' was intent of the First Amendment

I am appalled at the lack of knowledge of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters in light of the fact that he is supposed to have a degree in history. His statement that the Oklahoma Supreme Court "got it wrong" and that "separation of church and state is not in the Constitution" is ludicrous.

Although Founding Father James Madison was the principal author of the First Amendment to the Constitution, Republican President Thomas Jefferson is the one who originated the amendment in a draft. Amendments to the Constitution are the Constitution. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Amend, Amendment, = "To change for the better, improve, to alter formally in phraseology. Correction of faults, the process of amending a constitution." First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Since 1776, when questions presented themselves as to what legislators intended by passing legislation, what the "purpose" was, of the law's intent, it has been settled by determining "legislative intent." Since 1776, the courts, the legal profession, etc. have looked to the writers of a law (in this case, Thomas Jefferson) and what they said referring to that law in other documents.

The Danbury Connecticut Baptist Association upon Jefferson's election to the presidency wrote to him and pled for help because they were suffering from the oppression by the theocracy of other religions, which they were subject to. Jefferson wrote back to the Danbury Connecticut Baptists and in that letter, Jefferson wrote the now famous phrase "Separation of Church and State," thus, solidly establishing forever the legislative intent of the First Amendment.

Two of the standard responses by Christian nationalists to this, in their quest to turn the U.S. into a theocracy, is "separation of church and state is not in the Constitution" and/or "the First Amendment is not the Constitution." Just plain appallingly ludicrous and lacking of knowledge about their own country's history.

― Rev. John E. Karlin, Oklahoma City