Good Afternoon,

Below is a letter of support from the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health. Over 8 letters of support have been sent directly to district administration, the school board, and trustees. Each letter.....has been ignored. On Monday, 2/3 I personally sent an email to the MCSD School Board President, Leslie Mancuso, to request a discussion. She has not responded.

To ignore indigenous people is not only a disgrace and disservice to our community, but a harmful display of discrimination. You may disagree with this movement, but it is reprehensible to not even acknowledge indigenous vocal outreach.

How can our district claim to "honor" native people, when they won't even listen to them? 

All I want is a conversation. Your voice can help. Send in your letter of support for this movement to the MCSD administration, school board, and trustees. Enough is enough.

~Sincerely,

Daniel Ehrenpreis
_______________________________________

Dear Superintendent DiCarlo and Mahopac School Board Members:

The Center for American Indian Health at Johns Hopkins University has a mission to work in partnership with American Indian and Alaska Native communities to improve the health status, self- sufficiency, and health leadership of Native people. To this end, we wish to bring to your attention several important, empirically supported statements about the harmful effects of “Indian” mascots on health. Namely, such mascots are shown to:

Promote inaccurate and disrespectful images and stereotypes about Indigenous culture, spirituality, and traditions

Decrease self-esteem among Native students and young adults

Increase negative attitudes towards Natives by non-Native Americans (even if the mascot is not perceived as “offensive”)

Promote discrimination, which has been linked to elevated levels of depressive symptoms, health problems, suicidality, and substance abuse

Create unwelcoming learning environments, particularly for Native students

Undermine educational experiences and opportunities to learn about Native culture, history, and modern experiences for all students

“Indian” mascots perpetuate erroneous and troublesome stereotypes about what it means to be an Indigenous person in America and create an environment that can feel unsafe and unwelcoming for diverse students. Numerous health scholars and organizations have called for the removal of these mascots from organizations nationally; for example, the American Psychological Association released a resolution over 15 years ago calling for the “immediate retirement of all American Indian mascots, symbols, images and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams and organizations.” We support school districts, colleges and universities, and professional sporting teams in their efforts to remove these mascots and support more just, fair, and appropriate messages and mascots that promote safety for all students.

Respectfully,

Melissa L. Walls, PhD
Bois Forte & Couchiching First Nation Ojibwe
Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Director, Great Lakes Hub, Center for American Indian Health
Mwalls3@jhu.edu
218-724-1665