Sunday, May 25, 2008

High Schooler Wants To Wear Eagle Feathers On Graduation Robe

In Pembroke, North Carolina, high school senior Corey Bird wants to wear eagle feathers on his graduation gown to honor his grandparents. Friday's Fayetteville (NC) Observer reports that Bird, whose father is Lumbee and Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux, was told by Purnell Swett High School Principal Antonio Wilkins-- himself a Lumbee-- that school policy bans the wearing of messages, signs and the like on caps and gowns. The legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina says, however, that Bird has a good case for wearing the feathers as an exercise of his religious freedom. (Faytetteville Observer).