George Beres - An Independent View: School Nickname Controversy

Mohawk Indians are part of Oregon's school nickname controversy

By George Beres
For the Beacon

There was a time when the majority was unmindful of how use of nicknames for sports teams could torment minorities. To some extent, that time remains with us, though diminished by a growing awareness of the problem among sensitive citizens and school officials who represent them.

That’s especially true in Oregon, where an advisory committee to State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo has explored how to encourage “culturally appropriate instruction in high schools” on the issue of Native American nicknames. In the Springfield area, the issue is live at Marcola’s Mohawk High School, whose teams, including last fall’s state divisional football champions, are known as the Indians.

They’re far from alone in carrying a nickname that is in dispute. There are 14 others in the state. Others with the Indian name are Molalla, Roseburg, Scappoose and The Dalles. Braves is the name used at Banks and Reedsport, while Rogue River has the name Chieftains to itself. Warriors is carried at Amity, Lebanon, North Douglas, Oakridge, Philomath, Warrenton and Siletz Valley.

It was a student at Siletz Valley who first challenged the school system about concern over the names felt by his fellow Native Americans. A member of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz, he described how use of the ethnic nicknames damaged their personal esteem and self-image. That is when state education meetings were held to discuss a proposal, not as yet reached, to ban use of Native American mascots at the 15 schools which have them.

The majority view among citizens statewide seems to oppose any ban. Is that a shallow outlook by people unable to sense what it is like to wear the shoes or moccasins of a minority? So it seems when a basic objection they raise, outside of a loyalty to an abstract tradition, is the cost to schools for removal of printed or painted references to Native American nicknames, mascots and logos. The conflicting views will be considered in the months ahead while a Sept. 11 date is considered for the ban if it is instituted.

Principal Rola Weber of Mohawk High School told me he doesn’t “minimize seriousness of the complaint,” but has not indicated a decision in Marcola. He said: “We need much more dialogue and study for our student body to better understand concerns of the Native American population. We’re seeking ways to teach Oregon history in a way that would correct what may be curriculum deficiencies on Native American culture.”

Resistance to the ban is reflected in the statement of Roseburg School District superintendent, Lee Paterson. He said: “We have no data that shows how an Indian mascot does harm.” Exploration of the issue by state school officials may be able to give him some insights into the harm, especially when a student minority is personally affected.

It has to be hard for school officials to take an unpopular public stand against the majority attitude no matter how unjust the majority view may be. I saw it from personal experience at my hometown high school in Pekin, Ill. It was natural for Pekin to take on a Chinese identity because of the town’s name. What seems inconceivable to me now is that the school nickname of its teams for decades was Chinks!

As a student, I was unaware (as were all others in the town of 20,000) that Chink is considered a slur by Chinese. The town found out in the mid-‘60s, when it gained statewide attention by winning the Illinois basketball championship. Pekin had no Chinese residents. But there were many in Chicago, 180 miles to the north, and they reacted. Resistance to changing the name in Pekin was strong, but it came within four years, when the name was changed to Dragons.

Unintended nickname bigotry in Illinois had an impact in Oregon three years ago. Some students and faculty of the University of Oregon objected to plans for a two-game series with the University of Illinois Illini, a nickname in serious dispute at the NCAA level. Major objection has been to the use of a mascot, Chief Illiniwek, a cause of resentment for many Native Americans. The mascot last year was dropped.

So it can be done. It may not be easy. Some have such loyalty to a nickname and mascot that they find it hard to consider the special meaning- positive or negative-that name has in the ethnic history of those from which it was borrowed.

That’s what such names in dispute, as in Marcola Indians, are on loan. When the owner no longer can abide its misuse in a foreign setting, it’s time to give it up.