A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe released a formal letter sent to the Mason City Community School District located in Mason City, Iowa. Mason City Community Schools call themselves the ‘Mason City Mohawks’, selling merchandise with team logos and branding such as the Mohawks Nation, Mason Mohawks, Mohawks Hustle Harder, Mohawks Go Big or Go Home, Mohawks Respect the Hustle, and Mason City Mohawks Raise the Bar, among other merchandise.
Mason City Community School District acknowledged the receipt of the letter on its Facebook page today.
The post read, “The Mason City Community School District has received communication today from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council in response to our inquiry about the use of the Mohawk name, logos, or symbols.”
The Mason City School Board has an ongoing academic and athletic logo redesign project. The redesign and branding project has raised discussions about whether to keep or change the usage of its “Mohawk” nickname and logo.
Mason City school board president Lorrie Lala said she welcomed the SRMT’s letter. Lala added she didn’t speak on the behalf of the board, but she personally believed they needed to respect the Mohawk’s wishes.
The SRMT letter stated, “We adamantly object to the ongoing practice of using Native images, names, and likenesses; including in the form of caricatures and logos; and view their continued usage as offensive and a form of institutional racism -- particularly by educational institutions and systems that should strive to be supportive environments for inclusiveness and diversity.”
Lala told the Globe Gazette newspaper, “A lot of your identity is tied up with your mascot and I know that we haven’t met yet, but we will all have to be in agreement.”
As per the Globe Gazette reported on October 20, “This name brings much pride to tens of thousands of alumni in the last century. We’re closing in on having Mohawks as our mascot for 100 years. It also happens to be a time when Native American mascots are under scrutiny and we are building an amazing new fieldhouse that should be filled with branding signs and logos,” said Nicolas Trask, Mason City boys’ basketball coach.
It was also reported a high school teacher had contacted the tribe and was told “imagery like spears and arrows were fine along with the use of their name, although they did not want to endorse it.”
A board member asked for documentation of said conversation. Also, part of the mid October board meeting was a suggestion to begin a ‘partnership with the Mohawks’.
Previous Globe Gazette reporting traces the school district’s use of the name “Mohawk” for sports activities to February 1925.
Lala said having received the letter from the SRMT will help with the discussion among school board directors and with their community.
The Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa – The Meskwaki Nation – is also calling upon Iowa schools to retire their Indigenous peoples’ mascots. There are 66 schools in the state of Iowa with such mascots. The 66 Iowa schools with Native names include the Waukon Indians, Wapello Indians, Spirit Lake Indians, Montezuma Braves, Keokuk Chiefs, Oskaloosa Indians, Mason City Mohawks and Indianola Indians.
According to the National Congress of American Indians 1,935 schools in the U.S. have a Native-themed mascot, with names such as Indians, Warriors, Braves, Chiefs and Redskins. In the last calendar year, around 50 U.S. schools have retired Native mascots.
“Logo and branding update” was an agenda item at the Mason City Community School District meeting scheduled for Monday, Nov. 1. However, no action was taken during the session. A separate meeting will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 3.
The Mason City district’s school colors of red and black color are expected to be retained in the new branding/mascot design.
This article was updated on Nov. 1, 2021.
Lorrie Lala
School Board of Education President
Mason City Community School District
Re: Native Mascots & Native American Heritage Month
Tekwanonhwerá:tons/Greetings,
As the federally recognized government of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe; the Tribal Council stands in unison and supports efforts by tribal nations, community organizations, advocacy groups, individuals, and others to eradicate the use of derogatory and harmful stereotypes of Native Americans -- including the usage of Native mascots by schools, colleges, universities, and professional athletic teams.
We adamantly object to the ongoing practice of using Native images, names, and likenesses; including in the form of caricatures and logos; and view their continued usage as offensive and a form of institutional racism -- particularly by educational institutions and systems that should strive to be supportive environments for inclusiveness and diversity.
Secondary school systems and educational systems that promote ethnic stereotypes -- despite the civil rights movement that took place decades ago -- still have not fully embraced racial equality and continue to do an injustice and disservice to the young impressionable students under their guidance. Their failure to take corrective action by immediately banning Native names and mascots only serves to perpetuate the negative and prejudicial treatment toward Native Americans and the contributions we have made and continue to make across the United States.
Native Americans have a long and distinguished history of educating and building the groundwork for this global pillar of democracy and, once proud, world leader of racial equality on multiple levels -- from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Nations serving as an example of the oldest living form of participatory democracy for this country’s founding fathers in crafting the U.S. Constitution; the usage of Native languages by American Indian Code Talkers that proved unbreakable and successfully directed massive military operations in winning World War II; to the prowess and fearlessness of Native ironworkers that constructed many of the skyscrapers, towers, and bridges across this country, just to name a few.
So, with the annual Native American Heritage Month taking place in November, let’s improve the historic relationship between settlers and this country’s Indigenous Peoples by raising the general awareness of the mistreatment and challenges that Native Americans continue to endure -- including the offensive portrayal of Native people through negative stereotypes and mascots.
Along with celebrating our rich culture, traditions, and histories: let’s finally eliminate Native mascots and logos; investigate and provide a full accounting of Indian residential and boarding schools; safeguard and protect Indigenous sacred sites and resources, such as clean drinking water; and devote more attention and measures towards searching for and preventing anymore missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
If the intent is to honor Native peoples, including the Mohawks, then the greatest form of flattery is to make our challenges your own. The time has surely come for all of us to be treated as equals and respected.
Skennen/Peace,
SAINT REGIS MOHAWK TRIBAL COUNCIL
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