May 4, 2007
Francine E. Fullam
Superintendent
Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School District
659 Turnpike Road
Suite 120
New Ipswich, NH 03071-3738
Dear Ms. Fullam,
My name is Peter Sanfaçon and I am the director of the New England Anti-Mascot Coalition. The NEAMC is a grassroots organization of Indian and non-Indian advocates founded in 2006 to help educate high schools and communities across New England about racial stereotypes in federally-funded public schools. We’d sent a similar letter to Trevor Ebel in January but have received no reply.
Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative Senior High School’s sports teams are known as the “Warriors.” Why has the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School District ignored the 2002 directive from the New Hampshire State Board of Education, calling for an end to this practice by all N.H. school districts? As the superintendent of the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School District, surely you are aware of this document in which the Board “endorses the elimination of the use of Indian sports mascots and encourages all districts to examine this issue and to eliminate the use of [Indian] sports mascots.”
As an educator, do you not agree that racial stereotypes have no place in an educational environment? Why, then, do you condone and support the perpetuation of stereotypes of American Indians in the form of the “Warriors” nickname and associated logos?
According to Barbara Munson of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association "Indian" Mascot and Logo Taskforce, “Yes, we are proud of the warriors who fought to protect our cultures from forced removal and systematic genocide and to preserve our lands from the greed of others. We are proud, and we don’t want them demeaned by being ‘honored’ in a sports activity on a playing field.”
Native American organizations have been calling for non-Indians to stop making a mockery of their cultures for forty years. Schools, colleges, and professional sports teams mock and insult American Indians when they link sacred rites, tribal names, and stereotypical, war-like attributes with sports activities. These organizations include the National Congress of American Indians, the National Indian Education Association, the American Indian Movement, the American Psychological Association, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the NAACP, and the United Methodist Church.
Suzan Shown Harjo of the Morning Star Institute states that “Every major national Native American organization supports our position, and in our years of litigation against the Washington Redskins, they have not been able to produce one Native person in court to support them.”
Wilton-Lyndeborough’s 2006-2007 Program of Studies does not include a single course in Native American Studies. In fact, the social studies curriculum features no course in history that focuses on the genocide of indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. What exactly are students learning about American Indians at a school that calls its sports teams the “Warriors”?
According to Jacqueline Johnson of the National Congress of American Indians, “Far too many schools don’t include regular Native American educational curriculum about the heritage. Too many of our students grow up with the romanticized version of tribes from the past without knowing about what’s happening today.”
Some high-profile citizens of this country have chosen to take a stand against offensive or mocking sports nicknames. According to an article published by Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society, hall-of-famer Hank Aaron, speaking at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Atlanta in 2000, stated that if the name “Braves,” which he wore on his uniform during his playing days, was hurtful to many Native Americans, then it should be changed. He instantly became the most prominent athlete to take that position publicly.
There is a wealth of information on this issue available on the Internet. I’ve enclosed some of the best materials here. Educators and those who claim they are “honoring” our “Native American heritage” with this “tradition” owe it to themselves, their students, and those they oppose to learn as much as they can about what Native American people have been saying about these sports mascots, nicknames, and logos.
Ms. Fullam, simply ignoring this serious issue will not make it go away. The New England Anti-Mascot Coalition is dedicated to working with school districts across New Hampshire and across New England for as long as it takes until these offensive monikers and images are banished from our schools. Our children have been subjected to this affront to common decency long enough.
Please demonstrate courage in standing up against injustice by choosing to work with us to make these overdue changes.
Sincerely,
Peter Sanfaçon
New England Anti-Mascot Coalition