‘Got Land? Thank an Indian’: Hoodie message lands Fi rst Nation student in trouble

From the Eagle Watch
January 21, 2014

FYI  The outrage never stops.  We can expect to see more backlash as
Indigenous are showing Strength and Unity like never before.
Kittoh

http://o.canada.com/news/got-land-hoodie-saskatchewan-student-tenelle-star/


News
‘Got Land? Thank an Indian’: Hoodie message lands First Nation student in
trouble
An indigenous teen in Regina offended some other students at her school by
wearing a hoodie that asks, \'Got land?\' The reverse reads, \'Thank an
Indian.\'
An indigenous teen in Regina offended some other students at her school by
wearing a hoodie that asks, "Got land?" The reverse reads, "Thank an
Indian." Photo: nativeharvest.com
Ishmael N. Daro
Published: January 15, 2014, 10:20 am
Updated: 6 days ago
A A A

A First Nation student in Saskatchewan who wore a hoodie promoting
aboriginal treaty rights is allowed to wear it again after school
administrators initially asked her to conceal its message.

Thirteen-year-old Tenelle Star, a Grade 8 student in the small town of
Balcarres outside Regina, told CBC News her hoodie offended some fellow
students who found its message rude. The sweater reads “Got Land?” and has
“Thank an Indian” printed on the back.

“It supports our treaty and land rights,” Star told CBC News. “It’s
important.”

Teachers told Star some students had construed the message as “racist” and
asked her to wear the sweater inside-out instead. Some parents who got
wind of the matter also apparently complained to the school.

“We were taught Indians were on this land first. So why are people
offended?” Star told CBC.

The student is a member of the Star Blanket Cree Nation, covered under
Treaty 4, which was signed between the Cree and Saulteaux First Nations
and the Crown in 1874. It allowed for the settlement of much of Southern
Saskatchewan by Europeans.

It wasn’t until meetings between administrators and leaders of the First
Nation that the disagreement over “Got Land?” was resolved, with Star now
allowed to wear her sweater at school.

“I wear it proudly around the school,” she said.

This isn’t the first instance of “Got Land?” leading to confrontation. In
November, APTN reported on a young woman in Winnipeg who was denied a ride
on a public bus because of a similar sweater, with the driver insisting
there was no room for her after he read the back. Gelsey Sumner, 20, said
that as a result she was forced to walk alone through the city’s troubled
North End, where a violent sexual assault had recently occurred.
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