A Tacoma Native student couldn’t wear a sacred tribal blanket to graduate. Now she’s suing
An Indigenous student has sued Tacoma Public Schools for prohibiting her from wearing tribal regalia during her June high school graduation ceremony.
Gracie Belle Ray, who is a member of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska, accused the school district of discrimination and negligence after she was told that she couldn’t wear a sacred button blanket to receive her diploma from Lincoln High School in June, according to the lawsuit filed Dec. 18.
If Ray insisted on donning the red-and-black blanket gifted to her by the Nisqually Tribe, the suit said, she wouldn’t have been able to join classmates in the graduation ceremony. The school’s principal allegedly instructed a staff member to confiscate the blanket.
“When (Ray) accepted her diploma that day, she was not permitted to wear the button blanket, but other students were wearing their own culturally significant grass skirts, leis, sashes, and stoles,” the suit said.
Lincoln High’s refusal to allow Ray to wear the tribal regalia violated state law that forbids school districts and public schools from prohibiting student members of a federally recognized tribe from donning such objects of Native American cultural significance at graduation ceremonies or related school events, according to the suit, which was filed in Pierce County Superior Court.
Tacoma Public Schools declined to comment on the legal complaint, but it previously told The News Tribune that the district offered its “deepest apologies” to Ray and her family, launched an investigation into the matter and was working to prevent any repeat incidents in the future.
An attorney representing Ray didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
The suit, which said Ray continues to suffer extreme emotional distress from the incident, is seeking unspecified damages and attorney fees to be determined at trial. In a precursor to the lawsuit, a tort claim filed by Ray against the district in October noted that damages included past and future medical, counseling-related and therapeutic costs.
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
