The Roy C Ketcham High School and Wappingers Junior High School both have the mascot the Wappinger Indians. A human being should not be a mascot. This is offensive and damaging to students and community members who are Indigenous people. Any time the subject is brought up there is tremendous pushback. This mascot is dehumanizing, racist, and outdated. Part of the mission of Wappingers Central School District is, “to empower all of our students.” How can Indigenous students be empowered by a school that misrepresents the people from which this land was stolen? The Wappinger Indigenous people were forced out of their homes, “assimilated”, and killed by Dutch settlers. As a Ketcham alum I wasn’t taught that in school, I had to do outside research by myself as we have no comprehensive education regarding our region’s uncomfortable past. The school has a insensitive mascot depicting a fictional Indigenous man that is completely inaccurate to the Wappinger people. Other people’s culture aren’t  your costume.

When my sister went to Ketcham (2012-2016) the mascot pictured on all the shirts was a man wearing a headdress that is once again inaccurate to the Wappinger people. It is stereotyping Indigenous culture and erasing the fact that each group is different. By the time I was a freshman (2016) we moved to having our logo as a K with two feathers coming off of it. This transition to a different logo with the same name isn’t doing anything to truly solve the problem. In addition to our school proudly calling ourselves the “Wappinger Indians” at pep rally’s and sports games each year, the position of “chief” is awarded to a student who then wears a headdress to games. In addition to being completely disrespectful and hurtful to Indigenous people the name is inaccurate and based off of colonizers who thought they landed in India.

Why would we choose to cling to this very clearly racist past instead of simply changing a mascot? This mascot isn’t who we are, it isn’t historical or honoring Indigenous culture. Indigenous people have suffered tremendously at the hands of this nation: Their land was stolen, they experienced genocide, and were forced onto reservations with almost no say in the matter. It shouldn’t even be a question that this mascot is unacceptable. I am asking the WCSD for the bare minimum. We are living on stolen land and making changes such as this is the least we can do. Change our mascot. Teach students the real history of Indigenous groups from the Hudson Valley. This is cultural appropriation plain and simple. I find it impossible to say I’m proud of a school that clings to a racist figurehead to avoid an uncomfortable conversation or upsetting people who are stuck in the past. Your inaction is ignorant and hurtful.

When choosing a new mascot: There’s quite an array of animals to choose from, may I suggest a nice alliteration (Ketcham Kangaroos), or perhaps a species native to our area, and please don’t pick another racist mascot.