MetroWest Daily News
Haneisen: Redmen mascot must go
By Rob Haneisen/Daily News staff
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
When you come right down to it, there are simply more reasons to remove the "Redmen" nickname for Natick High School than to keep it.
Students and alumni can make all the claims they want about their affection for the nickname, but let's face facts: Calling Natick High School sports teams the Redmen is both historically inaccurate and, in its current context, offensive.
I don't understand the affinity some in Natick have toward the nickname because the history behind it is not exactly steeped in folklore and tales of long ago glory. The name was coined by Silvio Mandino, a sports columnist for what would eventually become the MetroWest Daily News. The Natick High football team wore red and one day in a story in 1956 he referred to the team as the Redmen of Natick—both in reference to part of the team colors and the town's Indian history.
The Praying Indians were converted by John Eliot in Natick in the 1600s and some in the tribe—after being exiled by the Colonists to Deer Island to starve to death—eventually helped the Colonists defeat King Philip in an Indian war that almost changed the face of New England.
For three centuries the Praying Indians had no chief and weren't considered a tribe since they were essentially Christianized Indians cobbled together from various indigenous groups in New England. Today, there are about 50 members of the Praying Indians and they have a chief named Caring Hands, also know as Rosita Andrews, 56, of Stoughton.
In a statement she released Monday, Caring Hands called the continued use of the Redmen nickname "racist and offensive."
I agree.
For starters, students (we have pictures to back this up) have been in Indian headdresses at games. These are the big feathered headdresses normally worn by Plains Indians, but not the Praying Indians.
If the students were dressed as Praying Indians one could make an argument that students were attempting to honor the Indian history of their town (not that Praying Indian garb would lend itself to being an imposing sports mascot). By wearing these big, feathered headdresses students and Natick sports supporters are only advancing the broad mischaracterization of Native Americans as blood-thirsty savages.
I can't help but think of the Florida State Seminoles - the football team. Before each game, a person dressed in traditional Seminole garb and riding a horse plants a feather-adorned spear in the ground at midfield. While some may think FSU exploits the Seminoles, that tribe at least says the university has made sure it accurately depicts the Seminole. And the team is named after the tribe, not some nickname that has racial undertones. In Natick's case with the Praying Indians, they have received no such blessing.
The potential offensiveness of "Redmen" when it comes to skin color of Indians needs little explanation. What would the feeling be if the teams were named the "Blackmen"? Enough said on that.
The name Redmen, in the big picture, has little history. It's been around for 50 years—not the entire history of Natick or even Natick High School. And the term was coined out of convenience and creativity by a sportswriter with little planning. There was no offense intended and at the time none was taken. It stuck.
In 1996, when I was a reporter in Jesup, Ga., I covered the debate over changing the Georgia state flag. At the time, the flag's main graphic was the stars and bars of the Confederate battle emblem from the Civil War. The flag was a reminder to some of the state's slavery supporting past and was offensive to most blacks. Some in the state believed changing the flag was an affront to history.
The problem with that argument is the flag—just like Natick's Redmen nickname—was created in 1956. Georgia's state flag was changed that year by then-Gov. Marvin Griffin who used it as a symbol of his avowed pledge to never integrate Georgia schools. In 2001, Georgia finally abandoned this old flag, changed it again in 2003 and the people voted on the current flag in 2004—one that has no resemblance to the 1956 embarrassment.
Natick has an embarrassment that originated in 1956 as well. Silvio Mandino meant no harm when he started a new nickname for Natick. What started out as an attempted homage to history is now a backhand slap. Other schools may exploit their own Indian heritage with nicknames like "Braves," "Chieftains" or "Warriors." But Natick's "Redmen" is beyond salvation at this point.
On March 5, the Natick School Committee will vote on what to do with the nickname. I don't expect them to come up with a replacement—they'll probably designate a search committee for that—but they need to make the right move on this and shelve the "Redmen" nickname back to the 1950s where it belongs.
(Rob Haneisen is the metro editor of the MetroWest Daily News. He can be reached at 508-626-3882 or rhaneis@cnc.com.)