Fewer NC schools use American Indian mascots. Some want them all gone by 2023.
The number of North Carolina public schools with American Indian themed mascots and logos has dropped by more than half over the past 20 years, according to a report presented Wednesday.
The North Carolina State Advisory Council on Indian Education (SACIE) says the number of public schools with American Indian themed mascots or imagery has gone from 73 schools in 2002 to 34 schools as of the latest count. SACIE wants the remaining schools to drop their American Indian mascots, logos or nicknames by the start of the 2023-24 school year.
“SACIE does believe that this type of imagery is detrimental to the development of positive self-images among American Indians and harmful to the ways in which the American Indian community is perceived by non-native students and staff,” Tiffany Locklear, the council’s chairwoman, said on Wednesday.
Locklear was presenting the council’s annual report to the State Board of Education. SACIE is charged with advising the state board on how to improve the education for the state’s nearly 16,000 American Indian students.
The use of American Indian mascots or logos is a sensitive issue considering that North Carolina has the nation’s largest Native American population east of the Mississippi River.
North Carolina has eight recognized tribes: the Coharie, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Haliwa-Saponi, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Meherrin, the Sappony, the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and the Waccamaw Siouan.
End use of ‘demeaning imagery’
In 2002, SACIE passed a resolution calling on North Carolina’s public schools to eliminate American Indian mascots and related imagery.
As part of that 2002 resolution, SACIE asked the state board to “recommend that the public schools of North Carolina educate themselves on the educational, curricular, and psychological effects of using sport mascots and logos.”
The resolution also called for all school systems to “review their policies and procedures toward the use of Indian sport mascots, logos, and all demeaning imagery.”
In 2002, 73 schools in 43 school districts had American Indian mascots or imagery in 2002. It was down to 43 schools in 20 districts in 2012.
In 2017, the number had fallen to 36 schools in 22 districts. This group included 14 high schools, 10 middle schools, one intermediate school, one K-8 school and 10 elementary schools.
A review of those 36 schools in 2021 found that two no longer have an American Indian themed logo even though they’ve kept names such as Warriors or Braves.
“Therefore, 34 schools still have American Indian themed mascots or logos,” Locklear said.
Drop American Indian mascots by 2023
On Wednesday, Locklear called on the state board “to reaffirm its opposition to American Indian mascots, nicknames, and logos, particularly those that employ and perpetuate offensive stereotypes about American Indians.”
SACIE wants the state board to take further steps such as:
▪ Sending a letter to all public school superintendents and school board members “reiterating and recommitting to the State Board’s 2002 resolution, using the letter sent in October 2002 as a template.”
▪ Restating the expectation that all local education agencies report annually on their efforts to review their mascots and “educate personnel on the effects of American Indian mascots.”
▪ If allowable by statute, strengthening the State Board’s resolution, “thereby requiring the elimination of all American Indian mascots, logos, and nicknames from North Carolina public schools by the start of the 2023-24 school year.”
But as the SACIE report notes, decisions about mascots and nicknames lie with school districts.
Some NC schools keep Indian mascots
Some North Carolina school districts have resisted calls for change.
In November 2021, a rally was held outside the Gaston County school board meeting calling for the “Red Raider” mascot to be retired at South Point High School, The Charlotte Observer reported. The school district has not made any change.
“We understand that the only raiders on this continent was the European settler and colonizer,” Jason “Crazy Bear” Keck of the Louisiana Choctaw nation said at the rally. “We made peace with that part of the history, but we don’t make peace with ... having some kind of savage with feathers on his head being the mascot of a sports team, relegating my ancestors and my people to some red color.”
In November 2020, the Dare County school board voted to keep “Redskins” as the mascot for Manteo High School, The News & Observer previously reported.
In the case of both high schools, some community members have opposed efforts to change mascots.
“The raider is a symbol of many things that we stand for here in Belmont and at SP,” Jan Turner, wrote in a petition for keeping the “Red Raider,” The Charlotte Observer reported. “It isn’t meant to be anything derogatory but is an honored symbol of a tribe, unity, courage, strength, perseverance, strong and fierce, ready for battle.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 10:00 AM.
