The Twin Valley community prides itself on the virtues of inclusivity and the golden rule. However, I do not believe that our mascot, the “Raider”, is representative of these values. The Raider is a racist caricature of an indigenous person, and I do not believe that a person’s race should be a mascot. 
     I do understand though that the mascot is an attempt at a nod toward the indigenous peoples whom used to call our community home. However, cultural appropriation is not a celebration of indigenous people nor is it any way to acknowledge native heritage. If we want to do so we should be educated on indigenous culture in the classroom rather than have a native person as our mascot. Also you must admit that it is ironic that we call our mascot the Raider, when our European ancestors were the ones that raided their land and committed genocide against these people.  
     You may be wondering what we would choose next to represent our Twin Valley community. Well I propose that it should be voted on by the members of our community, so we may better represent ourselves and our schools. Please sign this petition so that we as Twin Valley can right our wrongs and put a better foot forward in representing ourselves.