He referred on a recent morning to the brutality of Indian boarding schools, potentially heavy stuff for third-graders who use a team name - Krusty Krabs - derived from the cartoon 'SpongeBob SquarePants.'īut the atmosphere in his classroom is boisterous and light. Now in his 20th year at the East Side school, Draskovic teaches Lakota language and culture, and spares no details. 'It is a valuable part of building a truly inclusive community.' 'I believe that it is very enriching and rewarding being able to work with such diverse groups of students because it helps you understand there are many similarities amongst minority people of color, immigrant populations and Indigenous American people,' he said. Draskovic, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Nation, knows and values the diversity of his students, evident in the name he gave the drum group: Many Nations of People. Paul marched to Indian Mounds Park for an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration Monday, the majority were non-Native. When students at American Indian Magnet School in St. I know all the songs.'Īnd the classmates seated across from him - they were Hmong. He replied: 'I've been drumming since first grade. He raised his stick higher and sent it crashing down, helping propel the song to its finish while singing the Lakota lyrics.Ī Spanish speaker at home, Darwin was asked later if he understood the words.

It was near the end of the school day, and in a classroom with a tribal nation's flag hanging in a corner, the drummers were pounding - a group of nine fifth-graders and teacher Thomas Draskovic.ĭarwin Villeda, 10, had his eyes locked on three kids seated across from him, sensing his moment, and he took it.

Because of the brave lyrics