National petition circulating for Los Fresnos students

Movement asks school district to ‘rethink’ policy

By Laura B. Martinez The Brownsville Heral

A national petition in support of Los Fresnos students Rodney and Skyler Burns began circulating online Wednesday, asking for signatures to “end cultural bias toward Native Americancq students.”

The petition began in response to the Burns family’s fight to allow Rodney, 14, and Skyler, 12, to grow their hair in keeping with American Indian heritage. The Burns’ are part Chickasaw Indian.

The Los Fresnos school district is asking that they cut their hair to meet the approved dress code. Deborah Burns, the boys’ mother, has filed a grievance against the school and on Thursday pulled her sons out of Resaca Middle School where they have been serving in-school suspension since last week.

Joye Braun, a member of Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, started the online signature sheet at thepetitionsite.com.

“Here we are in the 21st century and there are two Native American boys that are being separated from their classmates and their education is being put at risk,” Braun said Thursday in a telephone interview from her Lakewood, Wash., home.

“They (school officials) are using a cultural identifier to separate these students and that is wrong,” she said.

The petition calls for the Los Fresnos School District to “rethink its policy regarding the length of hair and Native American students.”

Superintendent Sylvia P. Atkinson said she is concerned by the petition because it contains “inaccurate information.”

“I think it’s hurtful and it’s misplaced,” Atkinson said.

“It concerns me that the facts of the matter are not being shared accurately and it does not reflect the issues at hand,” she said.

The superintendent said the district welcomes all cultures and celebrates holidays significant to American Indianscq, Hispanics and blackscq.

“Culture is something that we have to support … it has nothing to do with whether or not they’re Native American, African American, Hispanic or Anglo. If their hair does not meet with the dress code of the school district, they are asked to comply.”

The petition was activated on Wednesday and had received 397 signatures by Thursday evening. Braun’s goal is to collect 5,000 online signatures.

Sklyer and Rodney have been kept separate from classmates since Aug. 23 for failing to comply with the school’s dress code.

School Principal Stephen Rosales said the boys’ suspension was not about culture but compliance.

Deborah Burns said she is glad for any support she receives that will help get her boys back into the classroom.

“If they can get it (code) overruled, I would love to send them back to school. They (Rodney and Skyler) need interaction and there is stuff I cannot give them at home,” Burns said.

On Wednesday, Dennis Banks, an Ojibwa or Chippewa Indian, actor and co-founder of the American Indian Movement, met with district officials to discuss American Indian cultures, particularly the significance of hairstyle and length.

In an interview Wednesday, Banks said almost every native tribe shares the belief that cutting hair is considered taboo.

On the Web: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction

lmartinez@brownsvilleherald.com