Guilford High School's Indian Mascot Dropped

GUILFORD, CT — Effective immediately, Guilford High School will no longer use an Indian as its moniker and mascot.

After advisory opinions from the town’s Human Rights Commission, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and myriad Indian mascot experts, the Guilford Board of Education voted unanimously to drop the school's Indian mascot and nickname during a special meeting Monday live-streamed on YouTube and watched by nearly 200 people.

Schools superintendent Paul Freeman came right to the point. His recommendation was to "immediately discontinue the use of Indian as Guilford mascot."

Freeman said he wants to "honor the voices that we have heard these last months and last few days," referring to students. He said a group of students said they feel "uncomfortable outside Guilford" wearing clothing with the Indian logo.

"They are embarrassed to be wearing a Native American name when it has been made clear that Native peoples do not want to be identified" in that way, he said.

"Students have asked us to cease this practice," Freeman said, adding he’s "not suggesting we erase our local Guilford history."

Rather, he said, the move to immediately stop using the Indian moniker and mascot is "the beginning."

“I’m not suggesting we remove it to avoid talking about race. In fact, this is only one step in a process ... an emotional step for many but I want to highlight the fact that this is not the end of a discussion," Freeman said. "It’s the beginning."

Freeman said work has already begun with a curricula audit around Native history, race, equity and culturally responsive instruction.

"This is just one step in ongoing work," he said.

And then he took responsibility.

"As the superintendent for last 10 years, it is my responsibility that this did not come sooner," he said as he thanked the "constituents who were brave enough and persistent enough and those young current students who engaged in this conservation back in September who began meeting with me, and recent graduates and parents and teachers who have pointed out that this is late in coming. I accept responsibility for the lateness of this."

All nine board members voted to accept Freeman’s recommendation.

The plan is to come up with a new mascot with student participation.

Meanwhile, nearly 2,000 have signed a petition to keep the name. The petition appears to have been created by a student or students. It reads, "...what is important to think about is as a GHS student have you ever heard a student use the Guilford Indian name as a slur? If not then it is a clear example of why this name is not wrong in any shape or form and is a name of pride not to be mistaken as immoral."

The Goats has been suggested as a replacement nickname, according to one website.

History and hostility

For years, Guilford had a ram as its mascot. But in the 1940s the ram was replaced with an Indian. Seventy years later, the use of an Indian as a mascot, widely seen as offensive and harmful, is out.

Last week, Dr. Glenn Mitoma, director of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and assistant professor or Human Rights and Education at the University of Connecticut, told the Board of Education it could “be a leader in moving the rest of the state.” Mitoma said the the school district can do more than change "a name or a mascot" and do something "more fundamental."

Mitoma said using Indian mascots create "a hostile learning environment."

And Chris Newell, director of education at the Akomawt Education Initiative, told board members that the Indian mascot not only "actively harms Native students" but all students.

"White students too are impacted; they learn bad history," Newell said. "All these mascots are based on inaccurate mythologies do not accurately portray Native lives. That miseducation all has to be deconstructed when they come from your schools. Maybe it’s not taught, but its part of the hidden curriculum. All students are negatively impacted."

Abandon Indian mascots but go further, experts say

Mitoma and Newell said the time is right to make more substantive change: "Think about the Indian name as a side story it’s not about name what kind of community and what kind of school do we want to be. The mascot is a barrier for the harder work."

Freeman said that the district is prepared to do that work.

Some in the community have said that the Indian mascot was adopted to pay tribute to Native and local history.

"I firmly and honestly believe that the decision 70 years ago was never done with disrespect," he said.

Freeman said he had spoken to many in Guilford who said that the "moniker is an honorific, a complement to the Native people." But he said that Native peoples have said in no uncertain terms that they "do not feel honored."

Freeman said that the National Indian Education Association, the National Congress of American Indians, five Connecticut Tribes and importantly, students who helped to spearhead the move to stop using an Indian as a moniker and mascot.

"They have spoken out. They say it’s demeaning and offensive and not an honorific," he said. Freeman pointed to a recent study that found "harm is done to youth when teams use monikers and mascot."

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation shared this statement:

"Supporters of Native-themed mascots argue that it evokes a sense of nostalgia from their days in school and believe such mascots are intended to honor Native Americans. Yet, while we understand their sentiment, we do not feel honored. … Native Americans are not mascots, nor should our cultures be misappropriated as such. Race or ethnic-themed mascots or school nicknames perpetuate the stereotypes and racism that harm Native and non-Native students. When schools and sports teams use the term 'Indian' as a team name, it implies Native people are of the past as if we’re artifacts - something that’s extinct."