THE DROP
After years of debate, a smalltown school district changes their Native American mascot. BY MAYA MEADE
8
backdrop | Spring 2021
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ince 1956, The Talawanda School District in Oxford, Ohio, has been home to the Talawanda Braves. The image of the mascot was originally a man with bright red skin that wore an earring and feathers. Over time, adjustments were made to the image as progress as a community and nation took place. In 2010, the Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice (OCPJ), which serves to educate and act locally to make Oxford a peaceful place through social, economic, and environmental justice, recognized a need to address an issue of racial injustice facing the community. The OCPJ asked that the Talawanda school board, and educators in general, consider the ramifications that the Braves name and image has on the students in the district. The petition they wrote was signed by 300 members of the Talawanda district. According to the Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice website, “In 2010 the board chose not to study the issue further stating, ‘the majority of the citizens in the Talawanda School District agree that the Braves mascot is not offensive and they favor its continued use.’” In recent years, the use of Native American caricatures as sports mascots has seen an increase in scrutiny. For decades, American sports culture has relied on stereotypical and racist depictions of Native Americans with reddened skin wearing headdresses and carrying spears. Some of the most
famous teams to use racist mascots includes the former Cleveland Indians and the former Washington Redskins, both teams which only announced their plans to change names in the last year. The contentious debate surrounding these mascots can be boiled down to whether using Native Americans as mascots is honorable or offensive. According to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the intolerance and harm that is encouraged by these mascots, logos and symbols have consequences for Native people. “Derogatory ‘Indian’ sports mascots have serious psychological, social and cultural consequences for Native Americans, especially Native youth,” says the NCAI website. “Most concerning in considering negative stereotypes of Native people, are the alarmingly high rates of hate crimes… According to Department of Justice Analysis, ‘American Indians are more likely than people of other races to experience violence at the hands of someone of a different race.’” Michael Crowder, who served on the Talawanda school board for 12 years, remembers the first time the mascot was really addressed in 2010. “This issue came up several times during the 12 years I was on the board,” he says. “There was a group of students that were really pushing to get rid of the mascot, the Braves mascot, particularly the warrior head. And there was a large number of students that wanted to keep it. Then there were community
