← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Fernando Wood
Thread ID: 10849 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-10-31
2003-10-31 03:42 | User Profile
It seems that some people are offended by an Iroquois flag being flown at a New York high school, but the school's superintendent refuses to take it down. Contrast this with school administrations across the country that ban displays of Confederate symbols because of the claim that such symbols are "offensive" and "divisive". I guess Southrons don't count when it comes to "cultural diversity, ... respecting differences, (and) honoring our history".
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=8&u=/ap/20031030/ap_on_re_us/iroquois_flag[/url]
N.Y. School's Iroquois Flag Stirs Protest
Thu Oct 30, 9:03 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP
By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer LAFAYETTE, N.Y. - Flying the flag of the Iroquois Confederacy outside LaFayette Junior-Senior High School was supposed to promote racial sensitivity and cultural diversity.
But not everybody is happy about the move. "School officials say it's to create integration. What it accomplishes is segregation. It makes the Indians a special class. It makes our kids separate. I thought we were all Americans," said Jean Schneible, who collected more than 100 signatures to protest the flag raising planned Nov. 12. [B]Superintendent Mark Mondanaro said the opponents are a small minority of the town's 5,000 residents. "This has to do with cultural diversity, about respecting differences, about honoring our history. This community shares a unique relationship with the Onondagas[/B]," Mondanaro said. LaFayette, 10 miles south of Syracuse, borders the Onondaga Indian Nation, still the spiritual center of the ancient Iroquois Confederacy that once covered upstate New York. Most Onondagas attend the nation school through eighth grade, then switch to LaFayette's public school. Native Americans comprise 23 percent of the high school enrollment. There are about 500 students in grades 7-12. Onondaga students and parents have been urging the LaFayette school district to fly the Iroquois flag for 30 years, said Wendy Gonyea, a nation spokeswoman whose son attends the high school. "Students would graduate and new students would pick up the cause. It's long overdue," Gonyea said. "I think it will pull people together. It recognizes the community's diversity and gives the Onondagas respect." In June, the school board voted unanimously to fly the flag outside both the high school and an elementary school. Schneible and other opponents believe there are other ways to recognize the Onondagas, such as exhibits and educational forums. They questioned why the U.S. flag isn't flown outside of the Onondaga school. Gonyea said the Onondagas fly both the U.S. and Canadian flags outside their lacrosse arena. "We want this put to a public vote. We don't think it is something (the school board) should decide for everyone," said Schneible, a mother of two students and one LaFayette graduate. Nearly all the high school students welcome the idea, said junior Steven Thomas, an Onondaga on the student council. The idea has been explored thoroughly by students in classes and most are well informed on the issues, he said. "This is an important event. We will finally feel like it is our high school, too, not like we're just visitors," Thomas said. He acknowledged that relations between Indian and non-Indian students can sometimes be strained. For example, if two students fights, it can become an "Indian versus non-Indian" no matter the cause. The purple and white design depicts the wampum belt of legendary 16th century Mohawk leader Hiawatha, a symbol of the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy, Thomas said. A white tree in the center represents the Onondagas and symbolizes the Great Pine under which the confederacy leaders first met. The other nations - Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca - are represented by boxes. A line connects all five figures representing the path of peace.