A proposal to retire the Chieftains nickname for Columbia River High School athletic teams is not a matter of political correctness run amok. It is simply a matter of correctness; there is nothing political about it.
Allowing a representation that diminishes the experience and value of a race of people is an offense that has continued for far too long. Native Americans are people, members of the community worthy of dignity and respect, not mascots to be equated with Lions and Tigers and Bears. As a recent petition urging the name change reads: “We believe that the Chieftain mascot trivializes Indigenous people, their personhood, their cultures, and the trauma they’ve endured at the hand of colonialism and white supremacy.”
We trust that the Board of Directors for Vancouver Public Schools will recognize this. At a workshop Tuesday, board members indicated support for changing the nickname and likely will vote on the issue at a future meeting. School board president Wendy Smith said there is “no cause to keep it in place.”
Not that such a decision would be cheered with unanimity throughout the community. Mascots provide a touchstone for students and alumni and even residents with no direct tie to a school, forging an identifying connection over the course of decades. In 1994 and again in 2019, The Columbian reported, students at Columbia River voted overwhelmingly to keep the nickname and the accompanying image of a Native American in a headdress that is not indigenous to the Northwest.
Change is never easy, yet we encourage those who feel a connection with the Chieftains nickname to consider what they are supporting.
The American Psychological Association website quotes Stephanie Fryberg, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, as saying: “American Indian mascots are harmful not only because they are often negative, but because they remind American Indians of the limited ways in which others see them. This in turn restricts the number of ways American Indians can see themselves.”
In a small but persistent fashion, using them as mascots serves to marginalize Native Americans, providing a daily reminder that those represented are seen as stereotypes rather than full members of American society.
While some will argue that Native American mascots are designed as a tribute, Fryberg — who has studied the issue for years — told The Columbian: “This is the difference between intent and impact. They may intend it as an honor, but the science doesn’t show that impact. It increases stereotypes of Native people being aggressive, primitive and savage.”
She added that polls show two-thirds of Native Americans find such imagery offensive.
Increasingly, Americans are recognizing that there are better ways to honor our nation’s native people. Many colleges have changed nicknames in recent decades; the Washington State Board of Education urged schools to rethink Native American imagery as far back as 1993; and the NFL team based in Washington, D.C., recently dropped the Redskins nickname it had embraced for 87 years.
Such changes help to create the kind of inclusive society the United States long has promised but sometimes has failed to deliver. That benefits us all, even if it can be difficult. As The Columbian wrote editorially in 2018: “Societal self-awareness can be a painstaking process, but it is a process that will land us on the right side of history.”
