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Winners
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The
New Hampshire State Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution
calling for local school districts to stop using American Indian
sports mascots.
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Coe-Brown
Northwood Academy in Northwood, New Hampshire, dropped its "Comanche"
mascot.
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The
Iowa Civil Rights Commission passed a Resolution Opposing the Use
of Native American Images, Mascots, and Team Names in Iowa.
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The
North Carolina State Advisory Council on Indian Education issued
a resolution in Support of Eliminating American Indian Descriptions
Naming Mascots, Logos, and Sport Team Nicknames for North Carolina
Public Schools.
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Joining
a chorus of groups opposed to the use of American Indian names and
mascots for sports teams, the Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments asked the Washington, DC, NFL team to find a new name
by next season.
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The
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board adopted a resolution
against discriminatory logos, names, mascots and nicknames.
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The
Huron Valley Schools Board of Education unanimously voted to approve
a recommendation changing Milford, Michigan, High School's "Redskins"
mascot.
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The
high school in Huntley, Illinois, retired its "redskins"
sports team nickname.
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Marshall
high school, in Marshall, Michigan, retired its " redskins"
sports team nickname.
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Johnson
Junior High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming, decided it was time to
change the school's "redskins" mascot.
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The
high school in Syosset, New York, changed its "Indian"
themed sports team nickname to "Red Hawks."
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Washington
Middle School in La Habra, California, retired its 40-year-old "Braves"
nickname.
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Southeastern
Community College, in West Burlington, Iowa, made a smart and painless
modification by dropping the "Indian" association to its
"Blackhawk" nickname and changing it to reflect a bird
of prey, the "Black Hawks."
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Martin
Methodist College in Pulaski, Tennessee, changed its sports team
nickname from "Indians" to "Redhawks."
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The
Durham (North Carolina) franchise in the summer collegiate Coastal
Plain League changed its nickname from Braves to Americans.
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Ossining
High School, Ossining, New York, retired its "Indian"
sports team mascot.
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Six
New York city public schools were moved to change their "Indian"
related sports team tokens. The schools included: Grover Cleveland
in Queens, George Westinghouse and Benjamin Banneker in Brooklyn,
Urban Peace Academy in Manhattan, Curtis on Staten Island, and Brooklyn's
Canarsie high school.
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Westhill
High School, Syracuse, New York, dropped the "Indian"
imagery from its "Warriors" mascot
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West
High School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, retired its "Indian"
themed mascot.
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Issaquah
High School, Issaquah, Washington, retired its "Indian"
sports team token.
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Massachusetts
College of Liberal Arts decided its sports teams will no longer
be known as Mohawks.
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Having
already changed its "Red Raiders" nickname to "Raiders,"
the Patchogue-Medford school district in Patchogue, New York, dropped
its use of an Indian-head logo for a more benign one incorporating
an artfully designed PM.
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The
University of North Dakota law school faculty passed a resolution
opposing that school's "Fighting Sioux" nickname and logo.
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The
North Dakota State University Student Senate approved a resolution
that strongly opposed the use of American Indian mascots, nicknames
and logos on that school's campus.
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The
Illinois Student Government passed a resolution calling for retirement
of the "Chief Illiniwek" sports team token used by University
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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Wisely
recognizing concerns associated with stereotypes and misinformation,
the YMCA of the USA began to retire its "Y-Indian Guides"
and "Y-Indian Princesses" programs.
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U.S.
Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), a senior member of the House Resources
Committee and a member of the Congressional Native American Caucus,
introduced the Native Act to Transform Imagery in Various Environments
(NATIVE) bill in the House of Representatives and submitted
a corresponding opening statement into the Congressional Record.
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California
State Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg's submitted a bill aimed at
making California the first state in the nation to officially prohibit
state public schools from using ``Indian'' mascots considered culturally
insensitive to Native Americans.
Losers
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A
perennial loser, the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, lost
a "Chief Illiniwek" related lawsuit and was forced by
a federal judge to pay damages to five litigants. The decision further
determined that former University of Illinois Chancellor Michael
Aiken was not exempt from prosecution. The University also faces
a related legal bill of over $300,000. The University has, of course,
appealed the ruling. Nevertheless, by maintaining the irresponsible
foot- dragging tactic for which it has become well-known, a majority
of University's Board of Trustees continued to show a lack of courage
and leadership. In the process, they degrade the University's reputation
and provoked strong reactions from frustrated advocates that have
for years been urging the University to retire its outdated and
stereotypic "Indian" sports team token.
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Caving
in to pressure from an alumni association that acted like spoiled
children, the Seattle School Board reversed its initial decision
and allowed West Seattle High School to retain its "Indians"
sports team nickname
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Failing
to take the lead of other State School Boards, the Kansas State
Board of Education Board rejected a recommendation to discontinue
Indian mascots.
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Totally
disregarding the recommendation of its diversity committee that
voted 16-7 to remove the logo, the school board in Milan, Michigan,
chose to retain its schools' "Indian" related sports token.
A "shocked and amazed" member of the Little River band
of Ottawa Indians remarked that, "It is like the cheerleading
squad is running the school district."
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In
a twisted bit of irony, the Cleveland "Indians" asked
a federal judge to stop the Indian Motorcycle Company from using
a script logo similar to the team's logo.
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Despite
a large amount of public attention and concerned urging, the public
school district in Eaton, Colorado, failed to make changes to its
degrading "Indian" related sports team token.
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Exhibiting
a reactionary, lynch-mob mentality, voters in Marshall, Michigan,
successfully recalled four school board members who chose to retire
that district's "redskins" ethnic slur nickname. Despite
the recall, the decision concerning retirement of the mascot was
upheld pending two more years of additional review.
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"Concerned
citizens" similarly ousted four members of the Osseo-Fairchild
(Wisconsin) school board in a recall election over a high school
logo.
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Tacitly
approving its public schools use of the "redskins" racial
slur, the school board in Cooperstown, New York, elected not to
take a position on the issue and thus endorsed the slur's continued
use. Cooperstown is named after American fiction writer, James Fenimore
Cooper, whose romanticized 19th century books, such as "The
Last of the Mohicans," are credited in large part with creating
and perpetuating the "noble savage stereotype."
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School
systems in the Maryland counties of Cecil, Frederick, Harford, Wicomico,
Washington, and Worcester, disregarded concerns about the institutionalized
public school use of "Indian" related sports team tokens.
American
Indian Sports Team Mascots © 2003
All rights reserved.
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