State, schools discuss Native American mascot issue
3 Comments Published by Pioneer Staff on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 5:58 PM.
By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer
School superintendents and principals from 13 school districts – including Molalla – that use sports team names like the Indians, the Warriors and the Braves, sat down around a table with members of the Oregon Department of Education’s Native American Mascot Advisory Committee on Tuesday.
At issue was a recommendation by the advisory group that all public schools in Oregon should be required to phase out Native American mascots by Sept. 1, 2011.
School district representatives complained that they felt they had been asked for input too late in a process that could directly affect their communities.
ODE chief policy officer Pat Burk said the state will take no immediate action on the mascot issue.
“The (State Board of Education) has absolutely no expectations in terms of a timeline,” he said. “Especially from what I’ve heard today, rushing a decision could be harmful.”
The process began in Molalla two years ago, when Che Butler, then a junior at Taft High School, was playing a varsity basketball game against Molalla High School. Butler, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz, was disturbed by what he saw as a racist display purporting to be entertainment.
“They had a mascot dressed up in fake turkey feathers dancing around during the halftime show,” he said.
Butler’s younger brother reported seeing another boy acting as the mascot’s “sidekick” who was walking around with his shirt off and a target painted on his torso. Butler was disturbed by the whole scenario.
“I had seen (Native American mascots) before, but that pushed it a little too far, and I felt I needed to change it,” he said.
Butler and his sister Luhui Whitebear, a member of the Comanche tribe and employee of the Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes in Oregon, put together a presentation entitled “I am not your mascot” and brought it to the Oregon State Board of Education last December.
Following the presentation, an advisory committee made up of groups like the Oregon Indian Education Association and state agencies including the state board of education and Oregon School Activities Association met three times over the summer. None of the affected school districts were invited to participate. The nine Native American tribal clusters of Oregon were invited, but none sent a representative.
The advisory group came back with recommendations that the state school board school eliminate the use of Native American mascots and logos by all Oregon public schools, educate students about the negative effects of stereotyping Native Americans, and adopt culturally accurate educational materials.
MRSD superintendent Wayne Kostur, like many of the other school district representatives present at Tuesday’s meeting, said he wished the state had included the local districts in the process.
“We were disappointed that we were not invited to be at the table right up front,” he said. “And we were also concerned about where this discussion will stop.”
Molalla’s current cost estimate is $694,000 if the state mandates that the district change all school materials that bear the Indian logo.
There are a total of 15 or 16 public schools in Oregon with Native American logos, according to ODE communications director Gene Evans, depending on whether you count Aloha High School, which claims that its Warriors are Polynesian, not Native American.
In some schools, that means having a mascot dressed as a Native American who parades around during half time.
But in many, including Molalla, where the controversy started, the mascot has been phased out although the logo remains on team gear and the gym floor.
Athletic director Steve Boyton said in the year and a half since he came to work at Molalla High School, there has never been a mascot present at the games.
“I would never let that happen, and I’ve never seen it used,” he said.
In Molalla, many people see the Indians logo as a way of honoring the history of the town and the Molala tribe that once lived in the area.
But Butler said not just the mascot but the images that are used, and the word “Indians” can be offensive.
“It’s demeaning and it hurts me because racism is always there when the mascot is there,” he said.
Molalla Pioneer
School superintendents and principals from 13 school districts – including Molalla – that use sports team names like the Indians, the Warriors and the Braves, sat down around a table with members of the Oregon Department of Education’s Native American Mascot Advisory Committee on Tuesday.
At issue was a recommendation by the advisory group that all public schools in Oregon should be required to phase out Native American mascots by Sept. 1, 2011.
School district representatives complained that they felt they had been asked for input too late in a process that could directly affect their communities.
ODE chief policy officer Pat Burk said the state will take no immediate action on the mascot issue.
“The (State Board of Education) has absolutely no expectations in terms of a timeline,” he said. “Especially from what I’ve heard today, rushing a decision could be harmful.”
The process began in Molalla two years ago, when Che Butler, then a junior at Taft High School, was playing a varsity basketball game against Molalla High School. Butler, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz, was disturbed by what he saw as a racist display purporting to be entertainment.
“They had a mascot dressed up in fake turkey feathers dancing around during the halftime show,” he said.
Butler’s younger brother reported seeing another boy acting as the mascot’s “sidekick” who was walking around with his shirt off and a target painted on his torso. Butler was disturbed by the whole scenario.
“I had seen (Native American mascots) before, but that pushed it a little too far, and I felt I needed to change it,” he said.
Butler and his sister Luhui Whitebear, a member of the Comanche tribe and employee of the Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes in Oregon, put together a presentation entitled “I am not your mascot” and brought it to the Oregon State Board of Education last December.
Following the presentation, an advisory committee made up of groups like the Oregon Indian Education Association and state agencies including the state board of education and Oregon School Activities Association met three times over the summer. None of the affected school districts were invited to participate. The nine Native American tribal clusters of Oregon were invited, but none sent a representative.
The advisory group came back with recommendations that the state school board school eliminate the use of Native American mascots and logos by all Oregon public schools, educate students about the negative effects of stereotyping Native Americans, and adopt culturally accurate educational materials.
MRSD superintendent Wayne Kostur, like many of the other school district representatives present at Tuesday’s meeting, said he wished the state had included the local districts in the process.
“We were disappointed that we were not invited to be at the table right up front,” he said. “And we were also concerned about where this discussion will stop.”
Molalla’s current cost estimate is $694,000 if the state mandates that the district change all school materials that bear the Indian logo.
There are a total of 15 or 16 public schools in Oregon with Native American logos, according to ODE communications director Gene Evans, depending on whether you count Aloha High School, which claims that its Warriors are Polynesian, not Native American.
In some schools, that means having a mascot dressed as a Native American who parades around during half time.
But in many, including Molalla, where the controversy started, the mascot has been phased out although the logo remains on team gear and the gym floor.
Athletic director Steve Boyton said in the year and a half since he came to work at Molalla High School, there has never been a mascot present at the games.
“I would never let that happen, and I’ve never seen it used,” he said.
In Molalla, many people see the Indians logo as a way of honoring the history of the town and the Molala tribe that once lived in the area.
But Butler said not just the mascot but the images that are used, and the word “Indians” can be offensive.
“It’s demeaning and it hurts me because racism is always there when the mascot is there,” he said.
These Native american's need to grow up. They are always begging to be recognized and when we do the get offended. You should be proud our schools have chosen Native american Mascots not offended. If something was done at a specific event that offended the someone, work it out with the school, but don't ask the schools and tax payers to pay for removal.
If you want them off you pay for the removal.
I have some concerns with this issue which I feel compelled to express. Number one: If the State Department of Education was concerned with how the naming of a school athletic team affected a specific group of people, wouldn't it be noteworthy that the affected group did not consider it enough of an issue to send representatives to express their concerns? Number two: How many people attend athletic events to express their stereotypical or political opinions? Number three: Is the State Department of Education really going to endorse the recommendation of so few people which will have such an enormous affect on so many without holding any public hearings on the matter? If any group of elected representatives engaged in this type of disregard for public input they would be swiftly called to account! Number four: Does a group of appointed, rather than elected, persons have this kind of power without any accountability to those affected by their decisions? Number five: Is it really possible for one person to effect this kind of knee-jerk response from the Department of Education? If so, why is it that the Department of Education cannot or will not delegate the same responsiveness to innumerable parents who are concerned with the quality of education their children are receiving because the length of the school day and year have not fundamentally changed since the 16th century despite profound changes our nation has undergone in what we now teach? If insanity is doing the same things expecting different results, then wouldn’t it be better to change things that will improve the quality of education and become part of the solution rather than fabricating new ways to become part of the problem? I really believe it would accomplish more for everyone if we focused on things which would unify rather than divide an already profoundly divided people!
I am a Haida Indian from Alaska and I am a member of the Molalla Community. As an “Indian”, I do not take offense to the use of American Indians as school mascots. I do not find the mascot that Molalla high school uses offensive. As an Alaskan Native, I do not feel that the word “Indians” is demeaning nor do I feel it promotes racism. I also believe that we must continue to trust the schools to positively portrait their mascots.
What happens when people with Scottish heritage decide that they are offended with the way that David Douglas uses their mascot, go to the press and the state to complain, will the state go through this same process, and spend time and money to review the issue? What about wildlife groups, will they force Sam Barlow to get rid of their bear, or Gresham their gopher?
Let’s move on, go back to the job of educating the children not bickering over names.
I am proud to be an Indian from Alaska and Molalla. Go Indians!