(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake indian mascot is going to remain, but students will be getting a more diverse education on native american issues.
The school board voted five-to-nothing in favor of keeping the mascot after listening to nearly two hours of public comment before a capacity crowd in the Middle School gym. Some of the comment came from native americans from as far away as St. Cloud, Minnesota and Winnebago, Nebraska. They were in favor of a change, saying the indian mascot is offensive to them. Native american Frank Lamere says the tomahawk chop and chants are especially offensive, and said “you’ll see a lot of me” in the event he witnesses it with his 13-year-old daughter present.
Those who spoke in favor of keeping the indian mascot say it was never meant to offend. One person said it would be “political suicide” for the school board and superintendent to change it.
Superintendent Dr. Tim Grieves accused many people of being closed minded on the issue, saying there was a pervasive effort by some in the community to try to keep native americans from addressing students and the community on the matter. Grieves also said racial discrimination is present in Dickinson county and needs to be dealt with. He says racial insults have been written on signs that have had to be cleaned up by county road crews. And he says minority children in the Spirit Lake school district are also being victimized. He says abuse school board members had to put up with is uncalled for–he says they’ve been ridiculed and bullied and atleast one had their mailbox ripped out.
Law enforcement officers were present inside the gym and patrolled the school perimeter during Monday’s meeting. But no problems were reported.
Copyright GCI all rights reserved. Unauthorized publication or broadcast of this material is strictly prohibited.
