Clackamas County is back in the news in a less than flattering way. As two Republican state legislators are trying to fight a ban on so-called Indian names for high school mascots/teams, the Molalla High School Indians get a close-up look from Oregon Public Broadcasting. And a lively blog from lovely downtown Molalla picks up the thread, too, doing its best to debunk the notion that the nickname “Indians” is flattering.
There are about 10 schools in the state clinging to that hard core stuff. Probably the largest left that title behind some time ago; that was Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Originally called the Red Raiders, when it began as Southern Oregon College, the “Red” was dropped several years ago out of respect for the Klamath tribesmen who defended their land admirably, along with the Modocs and Yahooskin, until they were subdued in 1874. Let’s see what the state senators from Roseburg and Corvallis have to say about this current situation.
One Response to “GOP Pair Oppose Ban on Indian Nicknames”
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I write the lively blog mentioned, Molalla Blog by oregonfirst – but I DO NOT live in decayed downtown Molalla. I thankfully live outside the city limits on environmentally sensitive land that was long used by actual Native Americans. I have learned a great deal about what really happened to the Natives who lived here – and they NEVER looked like the hideous orange cartoon stereotype Molalla has plastered all over town.
I am forced to pay into a school district that now is protecting a racist mascot. These backwater right wing towns certainly didn’t start with the intention of having a racist image, but once the State Dept. of Education assembled vast amounts of testimony about the harm these ridiculous mascots do to Native American students, it’s clear the local people are now trying to protect entrenched racism – especially when they refuse to read the facts assembled by the State.
I urge all progressives to follow this issue and to write to their representatives and senators to say that the State Board of Education is the proper agency to decide and that these towns will not change their racist mascots unless the threat of loss of funding stays in place. They will have had TEN YEARS (FIVE VOLUNTARY AND FIVE UNDER THE BAN) to do the change. That’s plenty of time!
Also tell them that no one Tribe can decide for all Native Americans that any race based “indian” mascot is ok – that is just an attempt to find, as a State Board of Education member said, “an acceptable level of racism”. There are hundreds of Tribes in the US and we are a mobile society. I heard the Native American mothers say in Salem hearings they would NEVER let their child be part of any school that had these awful lucky charm lurid orange fake “indians” – they are sexist, racist and trap Native Americans in the past.
Molalla High School is like a cheap, sleazy 1950′s summer camp for white kids playing “indian”. Tell our legislature and the Governor that we demand civil rights for all – and that Native Americans are not honored by being mascots for right-wing, white power privilege towns like Molalla.