Governor Kevin Stitt Veto Raises Student Regalia Questions

On May 1, Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed Senate Bill 429. The veto comes about a week before some students’ graduation.

Comanche Nation Vice Chairman Cornel Pewewardy said he helped write SB 429, which started about five years ago after he returned to Lawton, Oklahoma, from Oregon. He shared the idea with Representative Trey Caldwell, stating that other states have passed laws protecting native students at graduation.

Pewewardy said he showed Caldwell various templates from states such as Oregon, Washington and California.

“…As my understanding, there is nothing like this, and we need this desperately because I’ve been meeting with a lot of native students, and they were caught in the conundrum that they could not wear any tribal regalia at their graduations,” he said. “We went to work to craft such a bill.”

The veto impacted one parent, Danielle Werito, from Elgin Public Schools. She said it was okay for her daughter, Anabah Werito, to wear a feather but not a beaded cap to graduation. Anabah talked to the senior sponsor, who said she couldn’t walk across a stage if she wore a beaded cap.

Danielle said her daughter questioned why she couldn’t wear a beaded cap, which is part of her heritage, but the school could host a baccalaureate with a religious prayer.

Werito said her daughter chose not to wear the beaded cap to graduation.

“It is a tough decision, and we do not want to take away from any of the other kids that are still graduating in her class,” she said.

Pewewardy said students could make a standpoint.

“This is quite the issue…just talking about one of the Comanche citizens [Anabah] who attends Elgin Public Schools, she was denied that right, and that’s why we became advocates to ensure that that superintendent knows that we’re in opposition to his decision,” he said. “And we base it on not only our resolution but…a religious right, a constitutional right and also self-determination public schools.”

Werito said she’d attend more meetings, including school board meetings, to push for change.

“Because this problem just needs to stop,” she said. “No kid should have to feel like this, especially a day or a day or two before their graduation. This is a celebration and an accomplishment for all. Not just Native Americans or minorities in general, every race.”

She said Native citizens must find a way to fix the bills.

“We’re going to have to get with Congress, and we’re going to have to fix these laws,” she said. “…Even like the bill Governor Stitt just vetoed, and it passed 90 to 1, and he is a citizen of a tribe that is here in Oklahoma…he should know how passionate we are about ourselves.”

Pewewardy said the bill took multiple times to pass, starting three years ago.

“It was unsuccessful; I don’t think it got out of the house,” he said. “So, we tried it again... [in 2022] the same way, and it got stopped at the house. But this year it passed not only the house and senate…but it got vetoed…by Governor Stitt.”

He said the Comanche Nation advocates cultural enrichment and knows that students from Pre-K through doctoral programs will be confronted with institutional policy.

Pewewardy said it’s been an uphill battle since Native Americans have been granted the right to vote.

“And to express ourselves in our own way, in our tradition and our language, has been our challenge,” he said. “Because it’s also been an uphill battle fighting against… Angelo conformity.; meaning that you speak English only and we don’t. I see English as a foreign language, actually. Our language is Numunu, the people’s language.”

Chairman Mark Woommavovah said the Comanche Nation responded to the veto of SB 429. He said the Comanche Nation passed a motion at a Comanche Business Committee meeting to send a letter to Stitt.

“What the governor did is he failed to uphold his duty to more than 156,000 native students in the public school system in Oklahoma,” he said.

Woommavovah said it’s an expression of students’ legal rights.

“We’re going to back our students; we feel this is very important,” he said.

He said the letter's significance is to voice the Nation’s opinion against the bill’s veto by Governor Stitt.

“We stand behind our culture. It’s our pride for our students to express this, and it’s also their expression of religion,” he said. “So, we 100 percent back our students, and we do it through unity, and we do it through our nation.”

Woommavovah said he hopes the Nation’s voice reaches out to the leadership of the state of Oklahoma.

“Our tribal leaders are rallying to overturn this,” he said. “We know the importance of expressing our culture and our cultural heritage. So, we’re going to unify, and we’re going to take everything we have, and we’re going to fight to override this, and hopefully, the Senate and House override this veto.”

Pewewardy said he was asked to remove it due to policy regulations.

“I took the feather off, and I tucked it into my cap and gown; however, when I went to the stage, I was the next one up to get the diploma, and I pulled it out and put it back on my cap.”

Woommavovah said the issue united the nation to help current and future students.

Pewewardy said it’s about a 45-year-long history. He graduated from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and said his parents gave him an eagle feather.

“And I put it on top of my cap, and I stood in line with hundreds of other students…and I guess my feather caught the attention of officers at the graduation ceremony,” he said.

Governor Kevin Stitt’s veto was overruled on May 25.

The Comanche Nation PIO has contacted the governor’s office but has not received a comment on the overruling.