Dear Mr. Lamont,

We, the people of Connecticut, ask you to ban the use of the Native American peoples as mascots in public schools and colleges. Currently, 17 schools in the state of Connecticut continue to use Native American nicknames and/or racist imagery and chants. These schools are: Canton High—Warriors, Conard High—Chieftains, Derby High—Red Raiders, Farmington High—Indians, Glastonbury High—Tomahawks, Guilford High—Indians, Killingly High—Red Men, Montville High—Indians, Newington High—Indians, Nonnewaug High—Chiefs, North Haven High—Indians, Torrington High—Red Raiders, Wamogo Regional High—Warriors, Watertown—Indians, Wilcox Tech High—Indians, Wilton High—Warriors, Windsor High—Warriors. 

The land on which these schools were built was overtaken by colonists, who frequently forced indigenous inhabitants from their soil (we even owe the word “Connecticut” to the Mohegan-Pequot dialect). To pretend that these mascots “honor” the Native American people is an insult to their communities (which make up only 0.1% of the Connecticut population, according to the US Census Bureau) and a bald-faced rewriting of American history. We must seek ways of honoring and empowering our fellow Native American citizens through means other than stereotyping, tokenizing, and plundering their cultural iconography.

Using a race of people as a mascot is a cruel practice which reduces entire ethnic groups into harmful caricatures. Mascots which appropriate Native symbols (often weaponry) or are caricatures of Native Americans themselves perpetuate negative stereotypes of Native Americans and contribute to a disregard for their personhood. These mascots may be the only exposure to Native American culture non-Native students receive throughout their education, and create a hostile educational space for students who are Native American. Speaking from her own personal experiences while drawing on published studies, Angelique Eaglewoman, a Native American woman and advocate on Indigenous issues, suggests that “derogatory mascots contribute to negative stereotypes and microaggressions harming the self-esteem of American Indian youth.” She also points out the fact that those same youth have “the highest rates of suicide, alcohol related death, and lowest quality of life in the nation.” Psychological, social, and cultural consequences on Native peoples, particularly children, have all been documented as a result of Native mascots, prompting the American Psychological Association to call for the banning of them.

Mascot names like Derby High’s Red Raiders, Killingly High’s Red Men, and Torrington High’s Red Raiders have horrific origins. The slur “redskin,” which these names are derived from, originated in the 1800s in government bounty announcements calling for the scalps of Native Americans. Moreover, the name “Indian” itself is rooted in a colonial mistake (Columbus believed he had landed in Indian, when he had really landed in the Caribbean). While some Native Americans have reclaimed the name “Indian,” the National Congress of Indians, the nation’s oldest and largest Native advocacy organization, has vocally opposed the usage of the name “Indian” in sports mascots for nearly 50 years.

For decades, tribes and nations across the United States have protested the use of their people and ancestors as mascots and demanded change, only for us to ignore them and claim that we are “honoring” them, or that change is unpalatable because “it’s always been this way.” These practices are dehumanizing and need to end now. If you are not Native, you are not in a position to decide for actual Native peoples what honors them and what doesn’t. Chris Newell, director of education at the Akomawt Educational Initiative and a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, said, “If you have a Native mascot, stereotypes are going to be perpetuated around it, you don’t create a Native mascot and then ask that it be non-stereotypical. That’s just an oxymoron.”

We urge you to see this matter from the perspective of Native American peoples. This should not be a debate. We cannot build a sense of “town pride” on a foundation of toxic ignorance. No feelings of nostalgia are worth the suffering that these racist mascots have caused Native peoples. Regarding the use of an “Indian” mascot at Stanford University, where she attended, Angelique Eaglewoman stated: “What was nostalgia for them amounted to dehumanization for me.” The Stanford Indian mascot was permanently discontinued in 1972 as a result of the vocal activism and petitioning done by a group of Native American students.

Native American people have spoken out about these injustices on multiple occasions. Now, it is time to listen to them. We must hear their voices, acknowledge their pain, and act now to right these deeply entrenched wrongs. The action we call for is not unprecedented. Over the years, many schools and sports teams have been made aware of the disgracefulness of their mascots, and have discontinued their use in solidarity with Native Americans. In May of 2019, Maine banned the use of Native American mascots. It is now Connecticut’s turn to acknowledge its oversight in allowing these mascots and to discontinue their use. We owe this to our fellow Native American neighbors, friends, and communities.

Signed,

The People of Connecticut

Written by Ben Papsun, Lydia Perry, and Shawna Zeisner

For a fully-cited version of this petition, please visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UuX4Q1ECV2Pz8tdssrO_IMLJxpdMKTI0vRe9soA7TIc/edit?usp=sharing