Is It Ever Okay For A Non-Native Person To Wear A Headdress?

Feather headdresses have become part of our cultural iconography. But for many Native Americans, the headdress has deep spiritual meaning, and its misuse is deeply offensive.

When the fashion company Paul Frank printed T-shirts showing a monkey wearing a headdress, blogger Adrienne Keene took her outrage public. But she kept an open mind, because she knew the problem wasn't hatefulness, but ignorance.

Now she and the Paul Frank company have forged an unlikely partnership and are working together to bring Native American imagery into the fashion world in a culturally sensitive way.

Listen to her CBC interview.

More stories from KUOW Presents, Tuesday, April 2:

• Looking Back To The Future In China
• Rosie The Riveter Had A Sister, Laura The Luthier
• Is it ever okay for a non-native person to wear a headdress?
• Old Time Radio Serials As Propaganda
• First Love and 27 Other Firsts
• Biopunk
• Writer's Almanac