We are facing two issues as a community that are interrelated and troubling. 

First, our Chairwoman has acknowledged support of the Dartmouth mascot and is representing this position as the official position of our Nation. I do not believe this to be true. Many of you are aware of the harmful effects of Native American mascots and understand they do nothing to “honor” us as a people and contribute to settler colonialism, and ultimately the damaging of our sovereignty. 

This issue has been tied to the bill that would ban such mascots that was worked through the Massachusetts State Legislature in their most recent session. That bill has been worked on my many Wampanoag and other indigenous youth who would like to see it passed. In an effort to undermine this activism Chairwoman Andrews-Maltais wrote and published a letter that stated the tribe was vehemently against the bill and supports the mascot. This has since been repeated on Channel 13 News. I do not feel this was done with approval and was an abuse of power. It removed the voice of the people on this issue. Please consider signing if you’d like to show our Chairwoman you do not support such efforts and would support the ban on mascots.