To the editor: GM must abide by E5 policy and retire Chieftains name
The Chester Telegraph | Apr 17, 2023 | Comments 3
Someone is a human being. Something is a mascot. The continued use of the Chieftains at Green Mountain Union High School is in direct violation of the school’s E5 policy, which prohibits the use of a school mascot based on any person’s identity.
The definition of the word Chieftain, by itself, does not have to only refer to the characteristics of a Native American man as many races, colors, and creeds of people are brave leaders. The problem is GMUHS, it is impossible for the Chieftains not to be associated with the stereotypical image of an Indigenous man that has been mischaracterized, dehumanized and capitalized upon for over 50 years of widespread use throughout this school, community, and Vermont.
The issues surrounding mascots like the Chieftains are what have led to the passage of Vermont’s Act 152, which was signed by Gov. Phil Scott last year. By the school board members directing the GM principal and the school administrators to undertake a major rebranding before their vote to reinstate this divisive mascot, the school board acknowledged that the Chieftains brand references something that is prohibited by Act 152.
There are generations of Green Mountain alumni and soon-to-be graduates who deserve great respect for working steadfastly for many years to promote school pride without prejudice at GM through their groups “More Than A Mascot” and “Project Mascot.” Some kids presented their reports on the Chieftains mascot to the school board, while others attended the Governor’s Institute of Vermont, met with state legislators, and discovered the hope and optimism they needed to try to work on the big problems that they believed should be fixed at GMUHS.
The extreme public backlash over these children’s work to call attention to GM’s divisive school mascot has been very intimidating and damaging to these students personally and to their group’s mission. No one likes to be the brunt of someone else’s scorn or anger, especially not teenagers. The student’s anti-racist mascot movement put social targets on their backs simply because they dared speak out against the school branding. ‘
As a parent, I tried to provide my children with the support and guidance they needed as they learned how to stand up for themselves. The ongoing challenges forced these courageous student leaders to reexamine all sides of this issue, and they have learned better tools for productive dialogue and debate.
Understanding and responding to the needs of all students is central to the creation of a just outcome. As a result of the “More Than A Mascot” movement at GM, these students learned about restorative justice circles, conflict resolution training, and ways to transform the culture of a school. Restorative justice has been proven to be more effective in reducing bullying than targeting bullies with punitive punishment. These young students learned firsthand that not everyone in their school community is going to agree with their point of view, some adults in leadership positions at GM will continuously marginalize and ignore their best work, and they will become publicly resented figures just for daring to speak out on an unpopular issue.
The GM Unified School District Board of Directors and the community should honor the powerful contributions of the myriad of student leaders who demonstrated courage, determination and strength during the years-long statewide nondiscriminatory mascot movement as a purposeful, collaborative, values-driven process, rather than focusing on any one person’s title or position. These visionary GM student leaders imagined a school mascot that would be welcoming, and unifying, and would help build an inclusive learning environment for students when few believed change was even a possibility in this entrenched community. In 2022, the passage of Act 152 in Vermont was a life-changing and validating event for these weary student leaders from GMUHS, their proud families and their student allies at other schools throughout Vermont.
The school board demanding to “rebrand” the Chieftains mascot is in and of itself an admission of a violation of the GMUHS’s adopted E5 non-discriminatory policy. By reinstating the Chieftains mascot after adopting the E5 policy the school board actively undermined, overlooked and ignored the educational experiences of all members of the Green Mountain Union High School community. The time to retire the Chieftains mascot at GM is long overdue.
Carrie Roy King
Chester
Filed Under: Commentary • Letters to the Editor
We have already stopped celebrating Colombus day. Perhaps Thanksgiving should also be retired as a holiday as it is inseparable from thoughts of Pilgrims. The arrival of Pilgrims was the beginning of the end for the native Americans. They ultimately realized that the uncontrolled invasion by illegal aliens from Europe was not good for them, and fought King Philip’s war some 40 years after 1620. But, by that point, the Europeans were too numerous and entrenched to be defeated.
Not only was the name reinstated , it was reinstated in the same meeting in which a student bravely discussed their own experience with racist bullying at the same school. That really put a bad taste in my mouth so here’s a quote from something I read recently …
“The usage of Native American mascots is racist not only because it involves stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans, but (more specifically) because it treats Native persons simply as a means to symbolic unification—and not, importantly, as members of the community they thus serve. In other words, in these cases mascots work as unifying signifiers precisely by being the purely instrumental facilitator of a group’s collective fantasy of itself”
This can be found on JSTOR with the title; On the Particular Racism of Native American Mascots by Erin C. Tarver
I get that some people want to vaguely refer to “chieftains” as something Scottish or Irish tribes had too (and remember they were people who were violently displaced from their homelands as well, which should be a source of empathy…) But in the context of American history the reality is unfortunately much more sordid, not so vague, & we should cease with our phobias in addressing it point blank. We cannot heal from this wound if we won’t even admit the knife is still there… & Some of you keep sticking it back in!
So thank you for writing this. It bothers me that there are people who feel justified in their racism because they think the whole town is just like that & we’re not. I believe most people in Chester know better & are better than this. Don’t let the fanatics speak for you!
Stellar article. And disturbing. While the mascot in question is lightening rod, your articulation of the hurdles the young people have had to negotiate illustrates just how far some will go to avoid change, positive or otherwise. Clearly, when the mascot was adopted as a symbol at the school, I’m certain it was perceived as an innocuous and even prideful choice, without malice. But, we know better now. Once realized, making a change to de-marginalize historic injustice was the right course of action and a great opportunity to teach students that it’s never too late to course-correct, when injustice is revealed. Refusing to promote fairness, advocacy and anti-bullying behavior is a very unfortunate choice for such a beautiful and bucolic community.