Good Afternoon,

This update will be easy to digest. Native Americans are personally requesting our district to stop appropriating their culture (PERIOD). The indigenous people that are directly impacted by OUR mascot, are ASKING for this change.

Take a moment to recognize that by choosing to ignore these letters, the Mahopac Central School District does not care about minority voice. What implications does this have on your children? In reality, how welcoming is our community? Reflect. Learn. Engage. That is how we can make a happier, healthier Mahopac.

Here is our SIXTH letter of support from Coalition of Natives and Allies. 

~Sincerely,

Daniel Ehrenpreis

________________________________

Dear Superintendent DiCarlo and School Board of Directors ,

Recently created on the East Coast, we are CNA : Coalition of Natives & Allies and we are in strong support of retiring Mahopac's 'Indian' athletic identity sports mascot.

The issue involving race-based 'Indian' mascots is not about feeling good about a sports team identity or even about treating a logo image with respect. It is not about local historical connections to Indigenous People or place names originating from Indigenous languages or honoring Indigenous People.

It is about schools promoting race-based stereotypes, cultural appropriation and distortion, and the impact of this form of harmful discrimination for all students in every school. 

The petition by Mr. Daniel Ehrenpreis is very clear and is supported by a large and ever-growing body of research evidence concerning the impact of Indian mascot stereotypes on Native and non-Native students. Supporting one stereotype teaches students that all stereotypes are acceptable, many research studies bear this out. 

Because it is the responsibility of school boards to set policy and this is an issue involving education policy, it is appropriate that the Mahopac School Board convene the dialogue and take appropriate action toward retiring its racist athletic identity. 

This is a matter involving discrimination law and the question at hand is: Is it ever good education policy for a school to encourage students to stereotype and discriminate against a race of people?

We know that most community members in districts with race-based logos are proud of their sports teams and that as a result it is difficult for many to see that a cherished symbol is in fact a race-based stereotype.

Many Native people and organizations have been working very hard for many decades to help bring about positive changes in schools and sports teams which use natives as a representation for their predominantly non native communities . We often see people change their views when they think carefully and deeply about this human rights issue. The process of selecting a new and meaningful logo and team name can be a lot of fun for students and community as well. 

Old athletic identities are often retired with ceremony and teammates/classmates who played under the retired symbols are honored respectfully. We all love our school sports teams and we will applaud our students when they take the field with a new logo and team name that is not disrespectful to any living person or group. 

Thirty-seven Wisconsin school districts have found that there is life after native mascotry name/logo change, thousands of schools have changed across the nation and Maine is leading the way by adopting legislation in the first statewide ban on the use native mascotry.

You are now in a position to lead the community of Mahopac through a process resulting in responsible change. This is a difficult journey you are embarking on as alumni and community members become inured to stereotypes which are intertwined with mascots, logos and archaic imagery. When High School sports teams were first organized in the early 1900's no one knew that 'Indian' mascots were a peculiarly harmful form of racial discrimination. The first peer reviewed research specific to the impact of 'Indian' athletic identities on Native and non-Native students was published in 2002, since then an ever-growing body of research increasingly reveals the nature of this form of discrimination. We did not know but now we do and when we know better, we should do better.

We are hopeful that you will create a thoughtful process which will help you move forward with compassion for all and that you will find joy and healing every step of the way. Once you embrace change you'll realize that it can be quite a proud educational moment for the whole community.

Please feel free to reach out to our Coalition for resource sharing and support as needed.

Regards,

Donna L Fann-Boyle , Choctaw/Cherokee , American Indian Movement Central Texas , Indigenous 215 

Ramona Ioronhiaa Woods,  Mohawk, American Indian Movement Central Texas

Mabel Negrete (CNS), Chola/Ngulumapu-Chilean artist and activist at Counter Narrative Society (CNS), and cofounder of Indigenous 215 and Indigenous Peoples' Day Philly Inc

Lynne Azarchi, Director, Kidsbridge Tolerance Center

Arla Patch, former Community Engagement Coordinator, Maine-Wabanaki REACH. 

COALITION OF NATIVES & ALLIES (CNA)

Cultivating Unity to End Racism (CUER)