Some of the homemade "white pride" shirts. (KELO TV)

Here’s the entire story from the Associated Press:

CHAMBERLAIN, S.D. (AP) School officials in Chamberlain are investigating an incident in which six high school students wore homemade T-shirts proclaiming “White Pride World Wide.”

A derogatory slang term for impoverished white people also was on the back of each shirt, along with a symbol often used by white supremacists. On the front of the shirts was the word “Peace” and a peace sign.

Superintendent of Schools Tim Mitchell says officials are looking into why the students made the shirts. He says they violated the school’s dress policy. Two of the students changed their shirts and the other four left school.

One of them, 16-year-old Codie Novotny, says the shirts were a response to accusations by some American Indian students that white students and teachers are racist. She also says Indian students are allowed to wear clothing proclaiming “Native Pride.”

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Education, racism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 comments so far

Jackie Trotchie
 1 

Saying Native Pride is knowing you are Native but when we say White Pride it is slogan used by white supremacist. Why not say: English pride; German pride, or at least make reference to your own European homeland. Are white children taught to be ashamed of their true heritage or just lining up as followers to neo-nazism.

April 29th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Jeff Anderson
 2 

It should be ok for the students to wear white pride on their tshirts althought I do not agree with what is on the back of the shirts. I hear alot of people saying why don’t they wear German pride, Irish pride, Norweigen Pride but if that is the case why should we let kids wear native pride? The students who wear native pride tshirts should then have to wear Sioux pride, Black Foot pride, or even Chippewa pride. If you are going to make it equal you have to make it equal all around. I personally think that all schools should go to uniforms.

April 29th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
mary
 3 

ok let me jot a few things here; i went to chamberlain school, im native american, and when i went to school there, the teachers were racist; (still hasn’t changed) but chamberlain will always be a racist place. we all know that. and making it equal? yeah right; we as native americans have EVERY right to wear native pride; we come along way with all the whites. and it’s really obvious that what they did was racist. if they had to compare it to us natives wearing native pride then thats pretty obvious how kids are. oh yeah and these low life kids went and sent text around saying if you support wear white? thats childish. and no i dont think we should wear sioux pride, chippewa pride, ect. all natives have every right to wear native pride. we’re the last of our kind so put that in your book and get OVER IT! we will ALWAYS AND FOREVER continue to wear NATIVE PRIDE! (: wether you like it or not! booooya!

April 30th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Jade Novotny
 4 

Codie is my sister and they did it to prove a point about the school board. Saying the Celting cross and “cracker” is the reason it is unexceptable was just a scapegoat. I used to go to chamberlain and understand exactly why those students did what they did. They arent the first ones who wore shirts saying this, it is just the first time the news got involved.

April 30th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
NewYorkRob
 5 

What if the T-shirts said “Caucasian Pride”? Sounds exactly like “Latino Pride” or “Black Pride”. It is always racist when a White person has any type of “Pride”… We see who the real hypocrites are.

When any other ethnic or racial group expresses pride in their heritage or history it is OK! But when a Caucasian/European-American or “White” person does so then it becomes a “serious social issue.” As if Caucasians shouldn’t be proud of their contributions to Western society!The school authorities should be ashamed off their hypocrisy.

May 2nd, 2010 at 11:59 pm
buffalobill
 6 

i live in canada and there is alot of natives some good some bad, but what pisses me off more then anything is when you have some that beleave we shoudlnt be heer thats a joke do they not realize with out us heer canada/ us would be a third world country ? and as for us immigrating havent you guys wonder why you look asian ? cus you didnt just spring from the earth , and i will say this one more i have lots of native friends i just find there is alot more who would rather blame us for there problems when reality is with out us they wouldnt get there free schooling and tax breaks.

June 22nd, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Wild Bill
 7 

I live in the United States and there are a lot of white people here, some good, some bad, but what upsets me more than anything is when they make huge assumptions and generalizations having no basis in fact and/or history. It is an assumption to think that the migration over land bridge only happened in one direction. For instance, the horse originated in North America only to die out on this continent, but not before it went to flourish elsewhere. In other words, who is to say that First Peoples didn’t venture to Asia? It is also an assumption to point to “free schooling and tax breaks” without having a firm understanding and grounding in treaty history and responsibilities, allotment leases and the list goes on and on. Like how the notion of “third world” countries don’t exist except where foreign ideas of wealth and greed have been imposed upon cultures unprepared to navigate their politics. In other words, white perception isn’t always reality–oh, and I’m a white man saying that. 2DA-LOO!

June 22nd, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Francis Auld
 8 

Or “they” could make “A Friend of Christopher Columbus” T-shirts, or “My Great-great-great-great parents rode the The Nina,The Pinta,The God-Damn Santa Maria”

June 23rd, 2010 at 6:45 am
Corpsmanup
 9 

There is nothing wrong with being proud of your race. We live in a country where there are thousands of different ethnic backrounds. Who is anyone to say that it is not ok to were a “white pride” t-shirt. I see everyday people wearing ‘latino pride”, “black pride”, “asian pride”. For some reason its only when a an anglo-saxon kid puts on a “white pride” t-shirt that all of a sudden he is some racist, ignorant, biggit. Its just like the Idea of having White history month. This country acknowledges Latino History month, Black History Month, supports more than 150 events for the different cultures around the world……has television stations dedicated to the separation of the different communities (BET)!!! So you tell me, all those that say these kids cant support a race that they love, that is the original white american kid whos family has its roots here. Why does it always have to be racist when a white person trys to have a sense of pride. We are all Americans….try to embrace that and dont try to exploit and pervert when the people that originated this country want to be proud it!!

July 20th, 2010 at 9:34 am
NativeReporter
 10 

The term Native Pride seems to be the center of sparks here. To make it easy for those who don’t understand, Native Pride means that we’re still here, and we’re proud of it.

We’ve lived through genocide, segregation, enslavement, germ warfare, assimilation, and anything else that was thrown at us. We’re still here, and we’re proud to be here although history books clearly indicate that we should have been wiped out long ago.

That’s our statement. We’re proud to have Native blood in our veins. It’s unique, more rare than gold, a rich history for one to explore and learn more about.

The “White Pride” statement has also been declared in the past, and everybody knows what they have to be proud over.

January 3rd, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Chesney
 11 

I was a student at Chamberlain High School and the racist s*** goes both ways! And Codie Novotny is like family and we sat up till four a clock in the morning talking about the whole thing and she did not intend to hurt anybody over it! So seriously all you little haterz GET OVER IT!!!!!!!

January 12th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Morgan
 12 

It’s about time some kids grew some balls! Proud of you guys! ITS A STUPID DOUBLE STANDARD. ANYONE CAN HAVE PRIDE, BLACK PRIDE, GAY PRIDE, BUT no if you have WHITE pride you are a racist automatically!

July 28th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
shannaya
 13 

Native pride is a recongniton to the first people in this continent, way before europeans set foot on american soil,and we have the right to claim our selves as”" Natives” of this continent and we are ” Proud” of how our fist fathers survived the captivity and persecution of the “bilagana’when the whites wanted to exterminate the the rightfull owner of this lands..they called our people “savages” but who was the savage?.. we know the history”the savages had fire arms!!we had no wepons hello”?…fathers need to educate their childrenthe ..the cross for white pride is “Hitlers sign and he was evil we all know that, if you google it you”ll find it ”if the skin is white ‘ your people came from europe is simple,!!! we are Natives of this continent .our people did not come from some other continent , we got imvaded!!! gosh!!!!!!!!

August 5th, 2011 at 9:35 am
themedialiestoyou
 14 

why is it that on white pride websites all you see is hate filled comments about other people. go on the white pride world wide website ans see if you don’t read comment after comment on how they think other races are inferior. when other cultures talk about their pride they talk about their culture and their history. they do NOT post “scientific” journals about how other races are lower than they are or call other people disgusting. the real question here is why does white pride take on those hateful characteristics. i think white people should start looking inside themselves.

February 3rd, 2013 at 11:55 pm

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