Are they offensive?
Chattanooga area has nine Native American-themed high school mascots
As the nation undergoes a reckoning on racial and cultural issues, it’s not just Confederate monuments and Rebel school mascots that are coming under scrutiny. The use — or misuse — of American Indian symbols is also coming under fire, most notably with the demise of the Washington, D.C., football team name.
In Chattanooga’s tri-state region in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, at least nine public high schools use nicknames related to Native Americans. Among them, four are the Warriors, three are the Indians, one school is the Chiefs and another is the Cherokees.
They all come with similar trappings — an Indian chief or brave or just simple
letters for the school name — adorned with a full headdress or sometimes two or three feathers, or a rustic arrow or arrowhead.
One of the nine is a target of a name-change effort, the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School Warriors in Catoosa County, Georgia, although a petition only has nine signatures since it was created in June.
Members among the Cherokee’s three federally recognized tribes — the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma — say the reasons the nicknames can be offensive have never changed and now is the time for discussion.
In Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. applauded the NFL team’s decision and broadened the call for change.
“The use of ‘Redskins’ as a team name is offensive, derogatory and wrong, as are many other names and depictions of Native Americans across sports,” Hoskin said in a statement to the Times Free Press. “That specific term makes historical reference to settlers offering bounties that paid to bring in people ‘of red skin.’
“In my view, while some schools with Native mascots may not appear as derogatory or offensive as others, when schools use Native mascots, it’s too hard to control the cultural appropriateness of team jerseys, imagery promoted or local fan bases,” Hoskin said. “All across the United States, schools and fans embrace stereotypes of American Indians — war bonnets, face paint, crying war chants and making tomahawk-chopping gestures — and mock Native culture as if we are vestiges of the past. This does not honor Cherokee traditions, nor do they honor our fellow tribes.”
Hoskin called for communities and school districts “to have serious and thoughtful conversations about the use of American Indian names and imagery associated with their teams. Grassroots-level discussion is how change will occur on this subject, and I will always support such discussion.”
Near the TennesseeNorth Carolina border, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Richie Sneed is somewhat more accepting when it comes to individual situations but likewise said the issue must become a conversation.
“When you pick a name for your team, you’re looking to identify with something that’s an icon of strength, of ferocity, of tenacity, something or someone not to be messed with,” Sneed said. “There are issues that have to be identified individually. I think what’s missing from the public discussion and public debate is reasonable, logical dialogue, a meaningful dialogue, on this.”
Sneed pointed to his tribe’s dialogue with the Atlanta Braves baseball team, under the leadership of president and CEO Derek Schiller.
“He came to me eight or 10 months ago and just said, ‘Chief, I want to understand more about the Cherokee culture and I want to know the history. I want to be educated on this because we want to do everything in a way that is respectful and in keeping the high standards of both the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Major League Baseball,’” Sneed said.
“There is a way to approach this that is not just this blanket statement that it’s all bad, because it’s not,” Sneed said.
THE MASCOTS
The 85-year-old Warrior team name and images at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Catoosa County, Georgia, have been targeted by a petition on change.org.
“Rather than honoring Native peoples, these caricatures and stereotypes are harmful, perpetuate negative stereotypes of America’s first peoples, and contribute to a disregard for the personhood of Native peoples,” the petition states.
In a statement, Principal Chance Nix said the mascot dates to 1935.
“It was this class of [eight] graduates who chose the school colors, red and white, and the Warrior mascot as a symbol of perseverance, strength, wisdom, power, courage and determination,” Nix wrote. “The Warrior mascot is respected and honored at LFO High School, and it is a symbol representing all of the positive character qualities we desire to emulate in both our faculty and students. As such, it is a privilege and honor to be called a Warrior! It’s something our students are proud to be called and aspire to become.”
Nix cited a Native American faculty member’s opinion that the name doesn’t need to be changed.
“We agree that the way LFO High School esteems and honors Native Americans and their culture is respectful and appropriate,” Nix wrote. “LFO students and faculty would never approve of someone being disrespectful to Native Americans, their culture, or our school mascot. They are examples of courage, honor, duty and strength.”
School district leaders for Gordon Central High School Warriors in Georgia, Murray County High School Indians in Georgia, and the North Jackson High School Chiefs in Alabama did not respond to requests for comment.
Chattooga County Schools Superintendent Jared Hosmer in Georgia said Friday there had been no complaints or discussions on the Chattooga County High School Indians’ team name and mascot.
McMinn County Director of Schools Lee Parkison said there were no complaints but he’d been investigating the matter in light of recent events. An “MC” inside an arrowhead and a chief head can be seen on some team wear and school logos along with the name. Parkison said he has been able to determine the name goes back to the early 1900s and could be even older.
Historically, “there’s a