The USD 383 school board held an open forum on Wednesday to help determine the future of the Indian mascot at Manhattan High School.
Native American artist Brent Yancey created the school’s current mascot.
Student-athletes attended the open forum proudly wearing their Indian gear and saying “I will always be an Indian no matter what”.
Laverne Bitsie-Baldwin, mother of two MHS students, and a member of the Navajo tribe said that the mascot deeply offends her and many other people.
Baldwin said when people of other races/ethnicities are honored, a building is named after them, or a street, or field – they are not dehumanized and made a mascot. “Would you allow people to say, ‘I’m Asian, I’m Black, or my kids are going to be Asian, my kids are going to be Black’ just by going to a school; it is a misrepresentation of what it means to be an Indigenous person in this country.”
One student remarked, “offensive is an overused word – the mascot is wrong.”
A large crowd attend the mascot forum at Manhattan’s High’s School
MHS Parent Richard Gehring argued what if the mascot were an actual person from India, an East Indian rather than an “American Indian.”
“What if we had instead of a man with a feather headdress, a man with a turban, what if we used the term caste instead of tribe.,” said Gehring. “Why do we think that it’s okay to do that to Native American Indians?”
According to student surveys presented at the forum, 84% of students were in favor of retaining the mascot, 13% had no opinion and 3% voted to change it.
The Board of Education heard statements from dozens of supporters and those who wish to see the mascot changed. A final decision will be made at the December 7th Board meeting.