It was at a high school baseball game in 2019 that Becky Gaither’s quiet resentment turned into action. The mother of his three children, who grew up in the Seattle area and traces her ancestry to the Cowichan tribe of the Pacific Northwest, came to see her son in the fields of South Point His High in Belmont, North Carolina. “

As the game heated up, so did the taunts from fans at rival school Stuart W. Kramer. It didn’t take long for the most banal Native American caricatures and stereotypes to emerge, she says.

Of course, having lived in North Carolina for about 30 years, Gaither knew the South Point mascot. But the display at the baseball game was the final straw, she says. She filmed it and sent the videotape to her like-minded community members. Facebook page and Spoke at the local school board Call for the retirement of the Red Raider mascot.

Four years after that heated baseball game, the Gaston County Board of Education refused to be upset(The board did not respond to a request for comment on this article.)

Last year, the Belmont City Council approve the resolution Supporting the mascot. The mayor of Belmont, who introduced the resolution, pro-him Richard Turner, said that Red-his raiders represent courage and pride and “do things that are disrespectful or inappropriate, or wear Indian headdresses or national dress.” I’ve never seen anyone do that,” he said.

Public backlash against Native American stereotypes has led professional sports teams in Washington, D.C. and Cleveland, Ohio, to change team names, but high schools continue to use Native American-themed mascots and logos remain in large numbers throughout the United States.

“Mascot images continue to execute and reinforce colonial white supremacist ideas. [stands] as barriers to new opportunities for dialogue and education,” said Michael, interim managing director of Illumina Native, a Native women-led national racial and social justice organization based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. says Johnson.

2020 website Fivethirtyight.com Count the numbers in over 1,200 high schools. While there have been moves in some states to outright ban such imagery as offensive and irrelevant, the effort is driven by proponents who argue team names are central to community tradition and identity. It also faces stiff resistance.

Mascots causing ‘uproar at local level’

“These things are a violent storm at the local level,” says Michael Lewis, a marketing professor at Emory University whose work focuses on sports. “I mean, it’s a really vicious fight.”

Between the controversy between professional teams and high schools, “I think there are more similarities than differences, except that there is no prominent national media coverage of it,” he says.

According to the 2020 Census, self-proclaimed Native Americans made up just 1.1% of the U.S. population.a study That year, researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed Native Americans who “frequently engage in tribal or cultural practices.” He said 70% of those surveyed said sports fans wearing her headdresses were aggressive, and 73% said the same about sports fans imitating her Native American dances. rice field.

These objections prompted efforts to eliminate Native American mascot names in several states, and proposals were introduced. at least 21 years According to the National Indian Council (NCAI),

in New York State, 55 school districts and 12 high schools Long Island has a Native American-themed logo and mascot, and the state board said Tuesday it will retire by 2025 unless the school receives approval from a recognized Native American tribe to keep them. I voted that it should. Schools that do not comply risk losing state funding.

The New York vote is one of just a handful of such victories for the National Indian Congress, which has been at the forefront of the mascot battle that has been gaining momentum in recent years. For example, last year the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs ban lamar high school From continuing to use the term “Savage” for the mascot after the school initially failed to comply with the state ban. The school is now known as Lamar Thunder. Colorado’s ban went into effect last June, but as of last month he had five schools — all symbols of the native Thunderbird — considered “violations.”

In Washington State, a mascot ban passed by Congress in 2021 requires schools using native mascots to obtain permission from their nearest federally recognized tribe to continue using mascots. Rep. Debra Lekanov, from Aleut State (Alaska), pushed for the bill, calling it “a great opportunity for consultation between local school districts and schools.” [tribes] …about how [use such a mascot] Respectfully. ”

She said the law goes hand in hand with the move to include Native American history in school curricula. Lekanov calls it a “win-win” for both the school and the tribe.

Removing the mascot may cause backlash

Tyler Jimenez, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington, said a sense of community and nostalgia among high school graduates could be a powerful motivator to champion mascots that others might find offensive. says.

Jimenez is study Announced two years ago.

The survey, conducted the year after the “Chief Illiniwek” of the University of Illinois and the “Chief Wahoo” of the Cleveland baseball team were removed, said they believed racism “is not a big problem in American society.” I paid particular attention to ,” according to Jimenez.

“One interpretation… [is] It’s hard to understand this kind of decision if anyone really thinks racism doesn’t matter,” he says. Or “

But the study also suggests that the backlash may wane over time, says Jiménez. “But then people forget things and move on to other things. It becomes less prominent in their minds.”

change is not cheap

In Minnesota, law The proposed ban on Native American mascots will affect several schools in the state, including schools in the small community of Warlord, which sits on the Canadian border.

According to the Warlord High School website, the school’s mascot is respectful and the local indigenous people The people of Anishinaabe “donated land to establish the first school, and along with that demanded the use of the names and logos of warriors in athletics”.

Warroad Schools principal Shawn Yates said the logo was created by an indigenous artist and was “intended to honor indigenous peoples.” Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of logo-themed school merchandise “will go directly to supporting programming for Indigenous youth,” he says.

Additionally, Yates said it would cost the school an estimated $500,000 to change the school’s sports uniforms, signage and other items, including the “Warriors” logo. “We operate on a budget of about $14 million, 80% of which goes to teacher and staff salaries and benefits,” he says. Yates says the cost of the change will be “tremendous.”

Minnesota Senator Mary Knesh, a descendant of Standing Rock of the Lakota Nation, says she understands the Warlords have been trying to pay tribute. Regarding the gift of land to the school, she said, she “probably felt that the indigenous community at the time was powerless to accept or oppose it.”

“We’ve received so many phone calls and emails” endorsing the Warriors’ logo, she admits, but “we still don’t appreciate it, at least as many indigenous people say.”