Washington schools with Native American mascots are being urged to drop references to Totems, Warriors, Braves, Redskins and the like after the Washington State Board of Education passed a resolution last week. According to ABC News, the resolution is similar to one passed by the board in 1993 and cites research conducted by Stephanie Fryberg, a member of Tulalip Tribes in Washington State and an associate professor of Social and Cultural Psychology at the University of Arizona.
According to ABC's report: Fryberg and the American Psychological Association presented their research on the psychological consequences of using Native American mascots before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in May, 2011. Other findings include an increased achievement gap between Native American[s] and other students and negative effects on race relations in the United States.
In the past decade, 10 Washington State high schools gave up their Indian-named mascots, including Eatonville Middle School, which went from the Warriors to the Eagles, and Eisenhower Middle School in Everett, which went from the Warriors to the Patriots.
But 50 more, including some tribal schools, haven't given up their nicknames. And despite the resolution, the board doesn't have the authority to require schools to comply with the change, board spokesman Aaron Wyatt told [ABC affiliate] KOMO. However, he added, there will be no adverse consequences for schools that don't voluntarily choose a new mascot.
The mascot debate is nothing new. In May, the Oregon State Board of Education voted to ban Native American mascots, nicknames and logos from eight high schools. Those schools have five years to comply, or they will risk losing state funding.
Just last week, AB reported that sports venues used by the University of North Dakota will be allowed to retain some Fighting Sioux imagery and still host NCAA postseason events - seemingly settling seven years of debate that included lawsuits, legislation and a statewide vote regarding the Fighting Sioux moniker. In all, 14 universities have stopped using Native American names after the NCAA in 2006 banned institutions that had Native American logos, mascots or nicknames from hosting post-season events, according to ABC.
AB editor Andrew Cohen even weighed in on the topic late last year.
Marcus Morgan, superintendent of the Reardan-Edwall School District near Spokane, told Fox News that he was open to the idea of discussing changing the high school's nickname from the Indians to something else - even though the topic has not been an issue during his tenure. About a quarter of the district's population consists of Native American or Alaskan Native students. "I think it's maybe time to ask the questions," Morgan said, adding that he would likely place calls to tribal leaders and other community officials to determine how far he should take the topic.
