Education Board Hears From Experts On Removing Indian Mascot

GUILFORD, CT —During its special meeting Monday, streamed live on YouTube and watched by more than 180 people, experts told Guilford Board of Education members it’s time to abandon Indian mascotry.

For years, Guilford had a ram as its mascot, schools Superintendent Paul Freeman noted, but in the 1940s the ram was ditched and an Indian became the new mascot. Now, 70 years later, Guilford Public Schools is poised to possibly abandon the mascot that's seen as offensive and harmful.

Dr. Glenn Mitoma, director of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and assistant professor or Human Rights and Education at UConn is the grandson of Japanese Americans interred during the Second World War.

He told board members they have a “special opportunity to seize the day.”

“You could be a leader in moving the rest of the state,” he said noting that the district can go further than to change “a name or a mascot” and do something “more fundamental.” He said that “All the evidence points to the utter catastrophe Native mascots create for a school community (and creates) a hostile learning environment.”

Chris Newell is Director of Education at the Akomawt Education Initiative, a majority Native American owned consultancy group and educational support service for K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and museums and cultural sites.

Newell said noted that, “More than 70 percent of the Native population lives off a reservation" and Native American students “don’t wear paint and feathers every day, they wear T-shirts and jeans just like your kids do.”

Mitoma said Indian mascotry not only “actively harms Native students” but all students.

He said Native American stereotypes “spill over” and affect Black students, Latinos, and Asian-American students, for example, who he said experience increased levels of bigotry.

“White students too are impacted; they learn bad history. All these mascots are based on inaccurate mythologies do not accurately portray Native lives. That mis-education 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.”

“The use of American Indian mascots as symbols in schools and university athletic programs is particularly troubling because schools are places of learning. These mascots are teaching stereotypical, misleading and too often, insulting images of American Indians. These negative lessons are not just affecting American Indian students; they are sending the wrong message to
all students," former American Psychological Association president Ronald F. Levant said in 2005 when the APA called for the "immediate retirement of all American Indian mascots, symbols, images and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams and organizations."

The APA’s position was "based on a growing body of social science literature that shows the harmful effects of racial stereotyping and inaccurate racial portrayals, including the particularly harmful effects of American Indian sports mascots on the social identity development and self-esteem of American Indian young people."

Abandon Indian mascots but go further, experts say

Mitoma, Newell and Dr. Brendan Kane, associate professor of History and Languages, Cultures, and Literatures at UConn all agreed that the time is right to do more than change a mascot.

“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.”

According to the Akomwat Education Initiave, “The use of Native peoples as sports mascots is a phenomenon of American pop culture,” as far back as the late 19th century. But in 1969, the National Congress of American Indians issued its first statement against the stereotypical misrepresentation of Native peoples in media including the portrayal of Native peoples as sports mascots. In the 51 years that followed, Native people have largely been successful in this effort. In 2020, an estimated two-thirds of all Native sports mascots have been retired and over 90% of stereotypical Native imagery has been removed from American pop culture including media and advertising.”

Honoring town heritage with Indian mascot?

It was suggested by Board members that some in Guilford believe that using an Indian as a sports mascot is honoring the town’s heritage.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation disagrees. As did the experts who spoke at the Board meeting.

“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,” the Tribe said in a statement.

Newell noted that most towns in Connecticut can trace its history back to Native land deals” “Many were shady, though not Guilford,” he said. But it’s deal with Native people for their land came with a condition that no others had: they had to move off the land.

“If you want to honor that history there are better ways to do it,” he said adding that a good example was what occurred at Sachem’s Head.

“The Pequot War came right through your landscape at Sachem’s Head,” he said. “You can appreciate without appropriating

Newell, who visits schools to teach Native history noted that “teaching hard histories to kids is a benefit” and the Board should consider “it’s not just a single decision but really an opportunity to enhance education for schools and community.”

“Creating symbols that detract” from factual Native history “is not a way to honor” Native Americans, he said.

The Guilford Human Rights Commission agrees.

"On the issue of using Native Americans as mascots, the Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Mohegan, and Nipmuc Nations have been clear: they feel it to be demeaning, dehumanizing, stereotyping, and racist," it noted in a statement.

The Board will meet next Monday night and a decision is expected.

Watch the full meeting here.