#NotAMascot

I was invited by the Greater Cincinnati Promotes Peace Group to speak at the Ohio Board of Education meeting on September 18th. I’ve been in contact with the group recently as the conflict in Anderson Township has increased over the use of R*dsk*n as the local high schools mascot. Greater Cincinnati has been running a campaign to change the mascot from the racism imagery and term, to something socially responsible and acceptable. With having no support or decision made by the local Board of Education to choose inclusion over racism, Cincinnati arrived in Columbus to face the State on the matter. With them, was the AIM (American Indian Movement) Director, Phillip Yenyo and a retired teacher from Miami University. In total, seven individuals spoke to the board regarding the harmful effects of using Native imagery as mascots.

In preparing for the meeting, I initially felt fired up, but overwhelmed. I was unsure of what to say that would make the impact I would like to make, which is to have them shaking in their swivel chairs, apologizing to Native people in the room, and instantaneously writing a letter to all Ohio schools that any use of Native imagery in the name of school pride was no longer accepted. However, if I’ve learned anything about non-violent communication recently, and in order for my message to be heard on the receiving end, my own shame and guilt in participation must come first before I reach over the expected defensiveness of the people I would be facing. So that’s exactly what I did.

Unfortunately, I arrived on time to miss the first speaker and walked in on Phillip addressing the Board. One, by one, I felt the emotions of the people speaking, the needs they were addressing, and the request for action. I’d originally wanted to go first because I am a nervous public speaker and to get it out of the way would allow me to relax, but the circumstances pitted me very last on the list of speakers. I made my impact as the only youth speaker, and one with personal experience rooted in the privilege of an ignorant student at a school with Native imagery and culture represented by the mascot. We had five minutes. This is what I said:

“I honor you all for attending this meeting. Now, I want to share a couple stories with you pertaining to the conversation about why using Natives as mascots must be retired. I attended Olentangy Liberty Middle School, “Home of the Warriors” with “Wuzzy the Warrior” as their mascot. Wuzzy is a Native character with an outfit resembling the traditional tanned hides Natives wore. I’d been watching students of previous years dress up in the Wuzzy costume, being accepted by their classmates during pep rallies. I envied the attention they received. In eighth grade, it was finally my turn to put on the costume in the hope of being accepted by my peers. The fun lasted mere moments, and the shoes were too big for me. Quite symbolically, they fell off my feet. A Native caricature as a mascot had no impact on my ability to accept myself or others. It’s clear to me now, how I perpetuated the cycle of racism against indigenous cultures and how Liberty Middle School actually encouraged racism, through their use of a Native mascot.

In 2016, I charged to the front lines of The Standing Rock Reservation to stand between the corporate-bought state patrols and the Dakota Nations and our most precious relative, clean water. I lived among a diverse gathering of inspiring Natives who were being told once again, that their rights as human beings didn’t matter. I shivered, prayed, slept, and was shot at alongside these individuals who I found care more about our grandchildren’s access to clean water, than their own lives. Their great great grandparents are the people we use today as an image of our mascots. The same people we kicked off these lands, made their traditions illegal and forced them to follow the colonizers traditions. Their descendants have stated how disrespectful Native mascots are to their traditions. As fellow humans, we must abide by this understanding if we are ever to foster universal acceptance in the classroom.
I would like to welcome you to the land where the Miami, Shawnee, Ottawa and Delaware Nations once lived in harmony with the natural world. Native mascots are used to represent a symbol of honor and pride in public schools but doing so gives no justice to ancestors of those tribes who lost their lives preserving the integrity of traditional indigenous culture and natural cycles of this land. In the name of school morale, we have taken the image of those ancestors and plastered them onto uniforms, onto drink cozies, onto plastic water bottles. The image of Natives used as mascots, is a piece of the one-sided story american students have been told for decades. There typically isn’t even a story behind the depiction, just a shallow interpretation. This generalization is how racism lives on against a whole culture of people and way of life. I have learned that the value of the work itself is not in whether we succeed, per se, but whether we participate. I have learned that when people participate in making amends, the healing goes beyond the one who’s receiving. I have learned that to be a genuine, inclusive democracy we must be inclusive in our actions and not just our words.

Keep in mind the stories I’ve provided, which represents our collective crossroad on this issue. I ask you to consider how the choices in your role today and tomorrow impacts us all, when facing this crossroad. Merriam Webster defines mascot as “a person, animal, or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure.” If we use Natives as mascots, aren’t we also portraying the values of colonialism, oppression, and genocide? Can we respectfully integrate values shared with our neighbors of Native descent into classrooms, without insult?
Eddie Benton-Banai, an Ojibway Elder said, “teach the children. The Grandfathers and Grandmothers are in the children. If we educate them right, our children tomorrow will be wiser than we are today. They’re the Grandfathers and Grandmothers of tomorrow.” How can we raise those future grandparents to respect all walks of life? If not now, then when? If not you, then who? If we do choose now, what can we accomplish when we all stand together?”

While reading the letter to the Board, I found it very hard to get through the first paragraph because the shame I’ve experienced in reflection to the memory is something I’m scared will have me seen as a true proprietor of racism, when the action was an honest mistake. And in my school years, I made mistakes often. My intention for sharing the story, was to show that the impact of using such imagery not only hurts Native students and paints stereotypical confines of Native peoples for white society, but it skews the perspective of students so when they enter the world, they carry shame of the institutional racism that they were lead to portray by the school system they were a part of. That in a way, I was the oppressor. Actions like that have deep, unseen consequences and perpetuate the cycle of an oppressed.

I share this with the public to acknowledge my hurtful actions and to apologize for not pausing to think about what I was doing. We all have skeletons in our closet that feed our shameful perceptions of our selves and others. They can prevent us from moving forward, or taking actions to make amends. But they shouldn’t. Own your mistakes as much as your accomplishments so they can become a tool for strength in your life instead of a burden.

The video recording of our speeches. Mine starts at 2:01:20