More Racial Tension in Hardin Schools

Willy Bird, an outstanding student at Hardin High School, got into a quarrel with a non-Indian student in November, resulting in Willy's in-school suspension. Willy's father, Dean Bird, says when Willy later questioned why the great majority of the students in suspension were Native American, he was given an out-of-school suspension based on "defiant behavior."

Willy and his parents were tired of the seemingly anti-Indian behavior of non-Indian students and school officials. So Willy changed schools in the middle of his junior year. Hardin High School lost a student who had led his class in school activities, academics, and athletics. On the surface, this incident appears to have affected just one family. But racial tensions are far reaching in reservation border towns such as Hardin.

In 1995, similar tensions flared when the school's Native American Conference Committee held a youth conference to celebrate cultural diversity. Rather than having a celebratory flavor, the conference highlighted the town's racial divisions. Nearly 200 Hardin High School students--150 of whom had notes from their parents--did not attend the conference. The majority of those who skipped the event were non-Indians. More than 150 Native American students responded to the absences by boycotting classes for most of the next day and gathering in the gymnasium to discuss the issue among themselves.

Three days later, hate literature from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the Church of the Creator (COTC) was distributed in the community. The propaganda exacerbated divisions between Indian and non-Indian members of the community. Providing an avenue through which extremist groups can enter a community, the existing racial tensions in Hardin opened the way for the KKK and the COTC to split racial groups even further.

Tension levels rose once again, following Bird's suspension. Upon investigating the incident, the Network heard numerous examples of alleged discrimination within the school system. Students appeared to be close to another class boycott, and during a school assembly shortly after Willy was suspended, many students cheered and verbally showed their support for their classmate.

In December, Willy brought his concerns about racial discrimination in the Hardin school system to a hearing on Indian education issues being held by the Montana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The advisory committee is incorporating Willy's comments into its report on the state of Indian education in Montana.

These incidents involving Indian students are indicative of the continued threat of racial tension which exists in many of our local communities. Unfortunately, Willy Bird had to seek out a more tolerant environment and must now drive over 30 minutes to school in order to get an education. It is a testament to Willy and his parents that he is willing to go out of his way to stay in school. It also makes us wonder how many Indian youths feel pushed out of the system.