Editorial and Opinion Page
The Way I See It
^ * b> Dr. Dean Chavcrs. President
f f \ ~1Q Native Viuerkau Scholarship Kuuil
Albuquerque. \M
1 ' I
W> nema Chavez. had no idea she
would unleash a huge community
action law scar She was'graduating?
from Highland High School in Albuquerque
in May of 1996. and wanted
to wear her tribe's traditional dress,
a Monta, instead of the usual cap and
go.vn. She was refused the right to
wear it, and had to wear the cap and
gown She is from the Pueblo of
Santo Domingo
Most Indian studentsm the Albuquerque
Public Schools (APS) arc
from the Pueblos, the Navajo Chapters.
and the Apache reservations in
New Mexico. We have Siouxs.
Comanchcs. Chcrokecs. Kiowas.
Chippewas. and close to' 100 other
tribes from all over the U S represented
as well But most of the 7.000
APS students arc from New Mexico
tribes
They arc venr often traditional
They may live in Albuquerque, but
they often go back home for sings,
.feast days, dances, ceremonies, and
other traditional tribal events They
live in both worlds, literally. They
are bilingual and bicultural
Many of them arc very attached to
their traditional ways. On April 16.1
attended a meeting of the APS Board
of Education at which several dozen
Indian students. Indian parents, and
Indian teachers tried to convince the
Board that it ought to let them honor
their traditions by wearing their traditional
clothing
(The headline in the Albuquerque
Tribune" the next day called it
' attire." Various other news reports
called it "costumes." "garb." "outfits."
and so on. I'm sorry , bill it is
none of the above. It is either "clothing."
or "dress." as far as I ant
concerned 1 have no idea w hy people
have to use these terms of slight
derision when describing Indian
clothing.)
Wyncma was there and testified
She told the Board and over 2(H)
people in the audience how she
wanted to wear traditional clothes at
graduation to respect her grandparents,
who gave her the dress.
Wyncma is now attending AlbuqucrqucTcchnical-Vocational
Institute,
so she has put the disappointment
she suffered last year behind
her But some 250 Indian students
will be graduated from the 10 Albuquerque
high schools this year Dozens
of them want to wear their traditional
clothes.
The issue reached a head a few
wccks'bcforc. Within the past few
weeks, all 19 Pueblo gov ernors have
signed letters of support for the students
The Chairman of the All Indian
Pueblo Council. Roy Bcrnal
presented these letters and accompanying
resolutions to the Board at the
hearing
Prior to the meeting, the Superintendent
Dr Peter Horoschak. had
told the students that they could not
wear traditional clothes to graduation
He told them and their parents
that they would have to wear the cap
and gown, period no exceptions
Dr Horoschak camclo Albuquerque
from Stamford CT three years
ago I would have thought he would
have learned something about rich
Indian history in the Stale of New
Mexico in this lime, but lie appar.
cnily has learned little
After the Superintendent had
turned them driw n. the students w ho
were interested in wearing traditional
clothes appealed to the school board
The hearing was then scheduled bv
I'
I 1
ijic Board
* Bu| the ACLC complicated the
unmet bs sending a letter to the
Board President. Leonard Dclavo
He started the meeting bv saving lite
Board could not listen to what the
Indian people had to sav. because the
ACLU might sue the Board
How ridiculous! I have never heard
ofanvbodv bong sued for listening to
anvonc This wasobviouslv adclnving
lactic bv Leonard Fortunately
the other Boa rd Members o\ crru led.
and voted to let the people speak The
icslimoiiv went 011 for an hour and a
half
I testified on behalf of the Albuquerque
Commission on Indian Affairs
in favor of the students Barnte
Boionc. Dircctorof the Albuquerque
Indian Center, testified on behalf of
the Center, and presented a tesolution
in support of the students from
the Board of Directors
At the end of the testimony
Leonard tried to dclav some.more bv
saving there was no resolution 111
front of the Board for them tovoieon
Thev should have chastised Dr
Horoschak for this, since he had been
presented pel it toiisbv students v\ eeks
ago He should hav e had a rcsotui ion
rcadv
But the Board came up with a wav
to deal with the issue 1 licv assigned
it to the Pohev Committee which is
to come up w itli a resolution bv Mar
5 This resolution will he voted on
Mav 7
1 o be gracious, the Board should
accede to the wishes of the students
and their parents, and vote unanimously
in favor of a resolution to let
Indian students wear traditional
clothes at graduation Thev should
realize that Indian people spend % 172
million it vear in Albuquerque, w iilioul
which some Albuquerque businesses
would have to close
Thev should rcali/.c thev arc living
on Indian land. Utken from the
two puchlo&of lslcia and SaiTdiafovir
hundred v cars ago r"
thev should realize their current
policies and the wav thev treat Indian
students is (lie main reason Indian
students drop out of high school before
thev arc graduated 1 learned a
couple of dnvs before the meeting
that 114 Indian students hav
r\ ^
New Mexico lias a truancy officer,
apparently Bill they all lia\c paid
assassins whose job n is to kick students
out of school
The APS Board really know s how
Indian people feel about this issue
Stale Rep Roger Madalena testified
in favor of removing the restriction
Other tribal officials also testified
Over 20 people total testified Their
testimony was all in support of the
students.
Now let's see if Albuquerque can
be a little culturally sensitive
dropped out ofjusl two Albuquerque
high schools, the two w iih the largest
Indian student populations, in the
last two months The two are Highland
High School and Rio Grande
I ligh School
With only about (><)() students total
enrolled at the two high schools,
tins gives litem a one-year dropout
rate of 22%. and a four-year rale of
XX%. This is way loo high
The Board needs to rcali/c. 1 told
t liein. that most of these students arc
not dropping out on their own They
miss 11 days out of IXt) which the
Board say s is one day too matiya and
they are kicked out Instead of pnnidling
them for missing more than
l lie allowed ten day s. I lie Board should
rcprogram the funds and do something
to liy to make sure Ihcv arc in
school every day
I he Board programs funds for the
peopU whose job it islokiek students
out of school for missing loo many
days Instead. I told them, they should
program funds for truancy prevention
toliy to keep students in school
I hey just looked at me
They have no truancy officers,
which I think is a crime and a sin
None of the XV school districts in
^^^l>y~Dr.Stan Knick, D/rector^l
- -* .VCP Native American Resource Center \
(Author's Note: Because of the
timing of our up-coming art exhibit,
this special announcement
necessarily interrupts the series on
storytelling. That scries will continue
next week.)
With summer just around the
corner, it is lime once again for our
annual Native American Summer Art
Show-and-Sale. Every year the
Native American Resource Center
features the finest in Native American
art in our summer show, and we"hope
that this year will be. another great
exhibit. Native American artists of all
tribes and nations are invited to submit
works of art for consideration.
As usual, the Show-and-Sale will
open atLumbee Homecoming and end
after Indian Heritage Week. Works
submitted should remain on display
through the whole exhibit period (this
year's exhibit period ends 19
September). Artists may submit up to
five works in any medium (painting,
drawing, sculpture, batik, bead work,
basketry, textiles, photography,
cotton linter, mask-making, ceramics,
jewelry, mixed media, etc.).
We welcome works of modem art
in the exhibit. We believe that Native
American art is any art which is done
by Native Americans, regardless of
subject matter. Indian art is clearly not
all buffaloes and tipis.
We are also looking for the more
traditional works, particularly those
done with traditional materials (shell,
stone, bone, antler, wood, hides, quills,
pine needles and such). We also like to
see traditional methods, and those
featuring traditional Native American
subject matter.
We are especially looking for new
works ? things which have been
completed in the last year or which
have not previously been shown in the
Native American Resource Center.
Although much of the museum's
exhibit space will be devoted to the
Sbow-and-Sale, space is limited; so
artists should submit their works early
if possible to make sure they are given
full consideration.
Works must be submitted by the
18 th of J une, in order to give us time to
get them arranged and displayed
properly. Two-dimensional works
must be framed and ready for hanging.
Free-standing works (such as
sculpture) must be sufficiently stable
for display.
Artists may choose to offer for
sale some or all of their works, or they
may decide only to exhibit them.
Whichever way the individual artist
decides, we hope that each will share
bis or her talent with us and the public,
as we continue to celebrate Native
American heritage through art.
Several times since we started the
Summer Art Sbow-and-Sale we have
hearth from artists who hesitated to
show their works in The Center. They
wanted us to know they were artists,
but maybe they weren't quite
comfortable enough with being an
artist yet to bring their pieces out in the
open. One example was a certain
Lumbee artist who works in wood.
Maybe the problem was that he hadn't
yet seen his artwork through other
people's eyes. In any case, when we
finally got his works displayed in The
Center it turned out that lots of people
commented about how good his work
was!
The point is that you never know
how people will respond to your art
until you take that step toward sharing
your talent with the world. It's a liule
like swimming ? you can imagine all
you want to, prepare all day and night,
practice the moves with your arms and
legs, even hold your breath ? but you
never swim very far until you actually
get in the water.
Some people will say that they
only do their artwork for themselves
and their loved ones ? that it doesn't
matter if anyone else ever sees it.
Maybe they're right. But art is
something which has the potential to
improve the world, to enrich the
human spirit, to express the human
condition. Have we not been taught
that it is better to put our talents to
work than it is to bury them in the ground?
So, if you are a Native American
artist, or if you know someone who is,
we want to hear from you! For more
information, visit the Native
American Resource Center in historic
Old-Main Building, on the campus of
The University of North Carolina at
Pembroke. _
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County of Robeson
The Fiscal Year 1997-98 Proposed Budget will he
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Common Stock Offering
Lumbee Guaranty Bank hereby announces the availability
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For more information, contact Lumbee Guaranty Hank
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phone at 910-521-9707, or the nearest branch office of
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This offering expires September30,1997or when all available
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LUMBEE
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