Manchester Union Leader
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Research mascot issues

I’m a N.H. native and I’m writing in response to a recent Union Leader editorial regarding the sports team nicknames and logos at Manchester Central and Manchester Memorial. Apparently your staff has forgotten that in 2002 the N.H. State Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution calling for all school districts in the state to examine this issue and eliminate the use of “Indian” sports mascots, nicknames, and logos.

“The standard for reviewing the symbols should be higher than the opinion of a single former student who takes offense based on a misunderstanding of history.” This standard was set over the course of the past thirty years by groups like the NCAA, the NAACP, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the National Congress of American Indians, the American Indian Movement, the National Education Association, the United Methodist Church, the Intertribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, and the Coalition on Racism in Sports & Media, all of whom have called for schools, colleges, or professional sports teams to put an end to the use of racial stereotypes as sports entertainment.

The New England Anti-Mascot Coalition feels these discussions are long overdue. We urge your readers to research the issue themselves.

Peter Sanfaçon
New England Anti-Mascot Coalition
Framingham, Massachusetts