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Diasporia News of Friday, 22 May 1998

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Ghanaian student refused to use Kente cloth at graduation ceremony in US school.

Two High school students in the United States, one of them a Ghanaian are being prevented from wearing the rich Ghanaian kente cloth to graduate from school. The Arvada High School's Principal denied the students' request for permission to wear strips of ceremonial Ghanaian kente cloth over their graduation gowns on May 26th this year.

Graduating seniors Aisha Price and Enockina Ocansey maintained that wearing the cloths which Ocansey's father had specially made in Ghana would simply be a symbol of their rich cultural heritage.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of the students to wear the cloth but a District Judge ruled against the two students, saying the school must be allowed to enforce its policy, which is designed to keep the annual graduation exercise dignified and without distraction.