Bill on Beacon Hill would ban Native American school mascots
By Associated Press
BOSTON — A bill that would ban the use of Native American mascots in public schools in Massachusetts is heading to a public hearing.The bill defines a Native American mascot as a ‘‘name, symbol, or image that depicts or refers to an American Indian tribe, individual, custom, or tradition that is used by a public school as a mascot, nickname, logo, letterhead, or team name.’’
The bill gives specific examples, including ‘‘Indians,’’ ‘’Indianettes,’’ ‘’Chieftains’’ and ‘‘Braves.’’
The bill would prohibit the use of any Native American mascot by a Massachusetts public school.
The bill will be heard a 10 a.m. hearing Tuesday by the Legislature’s Education Committee at the Statehouse.
Earlier this year, the Gill-Montague Regional School Committee voted to drop Indians as the mascot for Turners Falls High School.
This is crazy. Isn't it better that the people who walked these lands long before anyone else did be remembered, instead of forgotten ? Narragansett has always been the Warriors, fighting to win on the baseball field, or in any other sport these children played. Not enough attention has been paid to the people who were abused, and hunted down by the people who landed on their shores. The name of a High School is not an insult in my eyes, more like an acknowledgment of a people who fished our brooks and picked the berries to feed their families. Bev.
ReplyDeleteHow do the native americans feel about this issue? If I were they I would be ashamed of having any association with a school and town that promotes water fluoridation. What kind of a people poison there own? Seeing as Templeton was the first town to fluoridate their water supply perhaps a new mascot can be derived from this fact. How about "the dumb and dumber" from Templeton.
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