The Secret of the Indian Statue
Some parts of your childhood are only weird after you grow up and live someplace else. One of those things is the giant somewhat-racist statue of a Native American at my public high school. You’ve probably never heard of Powder Springs, GA. I usually just tell people I’m from “outside Atlanta.” McEachern High School’s mascot is “the Indian.” I never thought twice about it as a kid. The Washington Redskins controversy was not a thing yet, but the Confederate battle flag controversy was already a heated debate in Georgia. My school district also made the national news because the local school board required stickers in the front of our biology textbooks saying “evolution is just a theory.” Well, Yes — gravity is a theory too. I had to grow up and leave to realize how comically southern portions of my childhood were.
Overlooking our football stadium was a poorly sculpted fiberglass statue of “the Indian,” which was styled more like a caricature of midwest Native American tribes rather than the Cherokee or other groups from around here, but the statue wasn’t meant to be subtle or politically correct. He looks more like Iggy Pop than a Native American. Maybe the statue has never been terribly controversial because it is just so gaudy and hilariously ugly.
Still, let’s consider the history of the school and the region. The school operated during segregation, and…