Guilford Human Rights Commission Says Schools Must Change Mascot

GUILFORD, CT — The Guilford Human Rights Commission has issued a statement calling for the Guilford High School mascot to be changed.

"We, the members of the Guilford Human Rights Commission, have closely followed the debate around changing the Guilford High School mascot.

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.

Out of respect to these — and all — Native American Nations, we are in full support of the current initiative to change the Guilford High School mascot to one that is non- racist.

The United States has a long and reprehensible history of genocide against and oppression of Native Americans, and Guilford High School’s current mascot only adds insult to injury. If we as a community are serious about making amends and reckoning with this painful history, changing the mascot is an important first step in the process. We must stop actively degrading Native Americans in this way."

Patch contacted Guilford Public Schools superintendent Dr. Paul Freeman for comment.

"Over these last couple of weeks the Board of Ed and I have received a number of communications (over 100 now) from current students and parents, but mostly from recent graduates of GPS who are expressing concerns about issues of racism and equity in Guilford and Guilford Schools broadly. In particular, those communications have expressed a desire to see the GHS mascot (or moniker) changed.

The BOE discussed those communications broadly this past Monday, and this coming Monday they are scheduled to meet again to discuss the mascot specifically. We will have guests from the Dodd Foundation and from the Akomawt Educational Initiative joining us to provide expert opinion on the topic.

The statement from the Human Rights Commission aligns with what we have been hearing from our recent graduates as well as what we have heard from local Connecticut Tribal Nations. I appreciate that the Commission has expressed their position, I think that it will help the schools to make a decision regarding the Mascot at the high school."

The BOE 7:30 p.m. meeting Monday will be streamed on the GPS YouTube channel.The decision will be made at the June 29 meeting.

Experts including Dr. Glenn Mitoma, director of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and assistant professor or Human Rights and Education at UConn, Dr. Brendan Kane, associate professor of History and Languages, Cultures, and Literatures at UConn, and Chris Newell, Director of Education at the Akomawt Education Initiative will be speaking at the Monday June 22 meeting.

The public will be invited to weigh in later in the week.

Here is a link to statements regarding about the use of Native American mascots, symbols and namesmade by Connecticut Tribal Nations, the Guilford Human Rights Commission, the American Psychological Association and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.