Indian Mascots
Apparently the state of Washington is following the state of Oregon in switching over Indian-themed mascots.
Full Disclosure: The high school I graduated from will be affected.
Now, my initial reaction is to say, “Why don’t we ask the tribes?”
Seriously, one school district has all of its mascots related to Indians, and a quarter of their population are Natives. Couldn’t a simple phone call to the local tribes asking, “Do you care?” suffice?
However, I know that there is a variety of opinion even among them. Personally, I’m not sure why it’s offensive to portray Native Americans as being fierce warriors, but not offensive to portray the Spartans as such. (Local high school.) I’ve never heard the Greco-American community complain.
Also, I have the following question:
Ten schools have changed their names in the past decade, including Eatonville Middle School, which went from the Warriors to the Eagles; Eisenhower Middle School in Everett, which went from the Warriors to the Patriots and Issaquah High School, which changed from the Indians to the Eagles.
Why was Warriors offensive? Warrior simply means dude who goes to war, and doesn’t have to be tied to any one time or place. Change the visual to suggest a Warrior in, say, England around the pivot, and we’re good. Heck, make it Boudicca and her men. Heh. The kids already want to paint their faces at football games; Celtic blue works nicely.
I’m a LOT more worried about the fact that the PERS board just mandated a massive new payment by the school districts, with the schools already stripped to the bone and kids sitting 45 to a classroom, than I am the question of whether the mascot is offensive.