January 16, 2006
Robert Pedersen, Principal
Spaulding High School
130 Wakefield Street
Rochester, NH 03867
Dear Mr. Pedersen,
My name is Pete Sanfaçon and I am a 1977 graduate of Spaulding. I am writing to you in an effort to bring an important issue to your attention as principal of the school.
For decades the mascot of Spaulding's sports teams has been the "Red Raiders." The icon itself has changed many, many times over the years but the current image is a profile of an unnamed Indian with a bright red face. The "Red Raider" image is on the Spaulding website for the entire world to see. As a former student and, today, as a parent of a school-aged child, I am very uncomfortable with the image this icon projects of my alma mater in 2006.
As an educator I am sure you can understand the impact of the message Spaulding is sending to Native Americans, as well as the very students you are teaching today, by continuing to condone the use of a racist image like the "Red Raider," regardless of how long the image has been in place at the school.
C. Richard King and Charles Fruehling Springwood, in their book Team Spirits—The Native American Mascots Controversy (University of Nebraska Press, 2001), state that Native American mascots perpetuate "inappropriate, inaccurate, and harmful understandings of living people, their cultures, and their histories."
They offer an example of comparison. "In the early 1990s, in Tokyo, Japan, Charles Springwood observed a number of Santa Claus figures for sale. The Santa figures were intriguing because their arms—spread out—were pinned to little crucifixes. A devout Christian would possibly react in horror to such a 'sacrilegious' juxtaposition of a commercial Christmas icon with a sacred symbol of martyrdom. But, in order to make this a more relevant analogy to Native American mascots, try to imagine the response of the Christian to the crucified Santa if the Japanese society that produced the provocative image had long ago conquered and colonized the Christian's own society."
On this Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, would you please consider changing the mascot of Spaulding High School to something more appropriate; something of which alumni, students, and faculty could be proud?
Sincerely,
Pete Sanfaçon
Spaulding Class of 1977
