This spring, Zuri Jaspré Wilson walked across her high school graduation stage wearing an eagle feather,a celebratory tradition for members of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe.
They spent nearly a year petitioning the school board for permission for Jaspré Wilson to wear an eagle feather during commencement. "Should this bill become law, the proverbial Pandora's box will be opened for other groups to go over the heads of local superintendents and demand special favor to wear whatever they please at a formal ceremony," said Stitt in a statement to lawmakers.The law comes after Lena' Black, a member of the Otoe Missouria tribe, sued her school district in Oklahoma for forcibly removing an eagle feather from her graduation cap last spring.
Courts have found that tribal regalia is legally considered a religious item and is protected by the First Amendment and the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act.