Letter to the Editor
Foster's Daily Democrat
Thursday, August 24, 2006

Silent leaders complicit in acceptance of racism

To the editor:

Judging by the silence of the Rochester School Board, they have apparently deemed the subject of Spaulding's Red Raiders race-based name and logo closed. They do this every few years. In the fall of 2000 a letter was sent to then School Superintendent Raymond Yeagley recommending the elimination of the Red Raiders name and logo at the school. Foster's did a story on the meeting that was held in August 2001 while the white majority voted to keep insulting Indian people.

In 2006 the board went through the same charade. They got a letter, so they held a meeting. Then nothing was done. The members of the Rochester School Board should be ashamed of themselves. Bob Watson is the only member of the board with a true understanding of the seriousness of this issue and his colleagues ignored him—and the countless Native people who have been voicing their opposition to these nicknames and logos since the 1940s.

But let's not point the finger solely at the School Board. Why is Judy Cohen, advisor to the Human Rights Club, the only member of the faculty at Spaulding willing to go on record in support of a change? Her students should be very proud of her. Where are the educators, the moral and ethical leaders in my old hometown? By your silence and inaction you are complicit in the acceptance of racism at Spaulding. If someone painted a black face on the gym floor or a caricature of a Jewish or Asian person, there would be an uproar in the community. Where's the outrage? So-called tradition doesn't justify a continuation of an injustice. It means we've all played a part in perpetuating an offensive stereotype.

Ask anyone who grew up in Rochester in the 1930s and 1940s about "Frenchtown" and "Dublin." They’ll tell you about discrimination and segregation. Haven't we evolved since those days? Have we learned nothing from the mistakes of the past?

In closing, I will ask one last question: Is it appropriate to stereotype any human group on the basis of race or ethnicity in the public schools?

Pete Sanfaçon
Framingham, Massachusetts

This letter was pulled by request of the author prior to going to print.