Officials Called ‘Redmen’ a Racist Mascot. Then Voters Weighed In.

“We look racist,” said Soudalath Souvanhnathan, a senior at Killingly High School. “This is not what I want our school to be known for. And all because people don’t want to let go of tradition. This has made Killingly a laughingstock.”

Hoween Flexer, a Democratic member of the Killingly School Board, said, “The students, faculty and Native Americans told us what they wanted us not to do, and we did it anyway.”

The decision was an unusual turnabout in the decades-long campaign by some Native American groups and their supporters to pressure school and government officials and sporting teams to end the use of Native American names and imagery for mascots.

In May, Maine banned the use of Native American mascots in its public schools and colleges. Similar measures were adopted in California, Massachusetts and Oregon.

The topic has long been a point of debate in professional sporting leagues. The owner of the Washington Redskins, Dan Snyder, has vowed to never change the team’s name, drawing considerable ire.

On the other hand, last year the Cleveland Indians organization announced that it would no longer use imagery of Chief Wahoo, a cartoonish caricature of a Native American, on its uniforms.

Tara Houska, a lawyer who is Native American and the co-founder of Not Your Mascots, an advocacy group fighting against the stereotypical representation of Native Americans in sports, said she was surprised by the move in Killingly.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/11/nyregion/killingly-redmen-mascot.html?emc=rss&partner=rss