Good Afternoon!
This week I am HONORED to post a Call To Action that has been sent out nationally by the Wisconsin Indian Education Association's "Indian" Mascot & Logo Taskforce! I am asking YOU to lend your voice, your narrative, and your experiences to the table! It is time for individuals, local community members, and our municipal organizations to speak up and speak out! We cannot claim that Mahopac is a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive environment when we are unapologetically appropriating a race of human beings!
The superintendent, the school board, and the trustees are unwilling to confront the data pertaining to how they are actively harming minority populations with their complacency. They are refusing to listen to tribal organizations telling them to stop. They are propagating poor educational policy for our youth! Let us, as a community, tell them why this is important. I will absolutely keep fighting for equity, but will you?
~Sincerely,
Daniel Ehrenpreis
____________________________
TEACH RESPECT
NOT RACISM
Call to Action:
Support Daniel Ehrenpreis’ effort to retire ‘Indian’ Identity in Mahopac Central School District in New York!
Daniel Ehrenpreis is a 2012 graduate of Mahopac High School. He is currently a graduate student at John’s Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Class of 2020, a Master of Public Health Candidate with certificates in Global, Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health.
The town of Mahopac is 91.1% white and 0.1% Native American. After the community experienced some racial incidents, Daniel wrote an op.ed. with an action plan to the local newspaper. Daniel petitioned support through a petition Http://Chng.it/nktrSMwp
Daniel’s 3 Step Plan:
Step 1. Community engagement.
Step 2. Education forum development.
Step 3. A re-branding process.
Daniel has contacted Superintendent DiCarlo and is developing a core of community education advocates. He is now asking for letters of support for retiring Mahopac’s ‘Indian’ identity from Tribes, Organizations and Individuals. There are no nearby tribes in this part of New York state as the result of a land deal many years ago. The tribe from which the name Mahopac derives no longer exists, its members were absorbed into other tribes also impacted by the land deal.
Daniel is therefore especially seeking supportive voices from Indigenous and others outside the community who understand why it is so important that race-based mascots be retired.
Please send your letters of support to:
Superintendent Anthony DiCarlo dicarloa@mahopac.org
Daniel Ehrenpreis dehrenp1@jhu.edu
School Board: mancusol@mahopac.org> mongonm@mahopac.org> furfarod@mahopac.org> keanel@mahopac.org> massafral@mahopac.org> mcdonoughr@mahopac.org> oconnorm@mahopac.org> simonem@mahopac.org> savinoa@mahopac.org
As an example, a copy of the letter from Wisconsin Indian Education Association’s ‘Indian’ Mascot and Logo Taskforce is here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UeMiktfUF1Mg3w4sXcX-qqMFKp99Wnix
Or simply write an endorsement statement:
[Name of Organization] is in support of retiring Mahopac’s ‘Indian’ athletic identity.
and send to Superintendent and Daniel at the addresses above.