As a 2018 graduate, I ask that you consider the name of Council Rock North’s mascot as well as the school district’s name.

As a society, we recognize that black-face is not okay. We understand that it’s disrespectful to use Black people as a costume and that it dehumanizes Black people. However, when it comes to native peoples, many people still see native mascots as okay.

Mascots are a way to rally school pride, however, the Council Rock North High School's Indians put this pride above the humanity of native people. Because mascots are almost always animals, using the “Indians'' as our mascot dehumanizes indigenous people. Our school communicates that native people are less than human. 

Our school district argues that the mascot and district’s name are a way to honor native people who used to live on the land that we built the high school on. These titles are not our school’s to claim. Our district is very predominantly white with an extremely low native population. These are not our traditions to claim. This argument also disregards the impact that the mascot has on native people both directly and indirectly. (source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2020.1772221 )

Being exposed to native mascots significantly decreases self-esteem of native people. Indigenous communities already face extremely high suicide rates as well as racism. These native mascots only increase those issues, as well as silencing the people that they harm. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEfa7PrpyJQ&feature=youtu.be )

When non-native people see the mascot, they recognize it as a caricature or character, not as a person. This thought process perpetuates prejudice against the native community and hurts inter-racial relations. Non-native people are also much more likely to dress how they think a native person would dress in order to show support for their team, which again hurts the native community. (source linked above)

If the Washington Football team can finally change their mascot, so can we ( https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/07/16/native-american-team-names-psychology-effect-redskins-indians-sports-logos-366409 ). Our school district boasts high test scores and quality education. Don’t let our racist mascot continue to tarnish our school’s integrity.