Warriors: Racist name? If so, what should we change it to?
Excerpt from a Wayland-based blog
January 13, 2007
All the controversy in Natick surrounding the "Redmen" name (it was coined for their red shirts, not for the racist slur) has me wondering when the inevitable change will come to the Warriors moniker. At Rivers, we changed from Redmen to Redwings, apparently trying to live off the glory of the Detroit hockey team.
What are your suggestions for a new team name? I go with "The Wayland Menshes."
BTW, the new WHS logo forgoes the Warrior on the Warpath emblem for… a tree:
That symbol everyone associates with the Native American Warrior: a, um, bendy oak?
January 18th, 2007
Well, it seems like everyone's doing it.
I now live in Oberlin, Ohio, where the school board just voted to ditch the high school mascot "Indians." This was very controversial in town, with divisive public debates and ultimately a close vote. I thnk it's the right move, however. I heard a native American speak about this issue recently (he was actually referring to the Cleveland Indians baseball team), saying "You wouldn't likely see a team named the Cleveland Blacks, would you? Or the Cleveland Jews?"
Oberlin hasn't decided on a new name for its sports teams, though my favorite proposal is the North Stars–a reference to the northward route to freedom for runaway slaves and this town's history with the underground railroad.
Speaking of potentially racist caricatures, I do have fond memories, I admit, of Kristin Jazowski painting a child "warrior" and "squaw" on the wall of the snackbar beneath the football stands in the fall of `85. I swear it was still there 10 years later.
The Wayland High School Warriors' current sports team logo:
ps NEAMC