When a small-town Minnesota high school banned its Native American drum group from performing at graduation, the hurt reverberated across Indigenous communities in the Upper Midwest.
St. Johns County commissioners want to hear from residents on 25-year growth plan. Here’s how to have your voice heardNationalMark Erickson, third from left, leads others in singing on the drum during an open drum and dance night at Minneapolis American Indian Center on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minn.
In written statements, the school district’s superintendent said the decision to ban “all extracurricular groups” from the ceremony, while making other times and places for performance available, was intended to prevent disruptions and avoid “legal risk if members of the community feel the District is endorsing a religious group as part of the graduation ceremony.”
“Singing is a door opener to everything else we do,” said Frank, who has been a singer for nearly three decades. “The reason we sing is from our heart. Our connection to the drum and songs is all spiritual. You give 100 percent, so the community can feel a piece of us.” Songs and drums at the center of social events like powwows are different from those that are crucial instruments in spiritual ceremonies, for example for healing, and that often contain invocations to the Creator, said Anton Treuer, an Ojibwe language and culture professor at Bemidji State University.
The school had taken good steps in recent years, like founding the Native American Student Association, and many in the broader Hinckley community turned out to support Native students. So Taggart is optimistic that after this painful setback, bridges will be rebuilt
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