"White Pride" Students At Chamberlain High School Were Simply Trying To Expose Preferential Treatment Of American Indian Students

Friday, April 30, 2010

The story about the six White students at Chamberlain High School in South Dakota who wore "White Pride World Wide" shirts to school continues to percolate. On April 29th, 2010, Keloland and the Daily Globe report that the six students were merely using it as an opportunity to highlight perceived favoritism towards American Indian students at the school. As previously reported, the six students wore the shirts to school on Wednesday April 28th; when confronted by the administration, two agreed to change their shirts on the spot, while the other four chose to go home after parental notification. This incident has also triggered a discussion on Stormfront.

A student who was involved says it started earlier this week, when she heard some kids talking about how White students in the district get more privileges than American Indian (or Amerindian) students. For example, American Indian students are allowed to wear clothing proclaiming "Native Pride." In addition, students in the Native American Club were claiming that White students and teachers are racist. The one White student who spoke to the media says she and her friends wanted to stand up against that idea, without any idea of the controversy they were about to unleash. When they Googled "White Pride", the Celtic cross came up, which is where they got the idea to use it as their design. They were not aware that it had acquired a "neo-Nazi" connotation.

The students used markers to print the shirts. Each has a Celtic cross design, with the words "white pride world wide" and "cracker" written on the back. The student says they were supposed to make a statement. "We knew we would be in trouble, we knew something would happen, but it was kind of to prove a point that racism happens both ways, not just Whites being racist toward American Indians," one student said. Anti-racists sell the idea that only Whites can be racist in order to promote White guilt.

Superintendent Tim Mitchell said the students should have made their point in a less confrontational way, and he hopes something can be learned from the incident. “Right now, we’re trying to figure out why these six students decided to wear these shirts and if there’s some sort of appropriate way that we could have some sort of dialogue as to what prompted them to do this particular act,” Mitchell said. “Is there something that we need to do in a more appropriate setting to take a look at why they felt they had to make these shirts?”

The two students who changed their shirts won't face any further disciplinary action; however, the administration has not ruled out suspension for the four who went home.

http://whitereference.blogspot.com/2010/04/white-pride-students-at-chamberlain.html