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The Majority has Spoken.

The overwhelming majority of Wisconsin Indian tribes through the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council

has spoken asking all Wisconsin high schools to retire the nickname Indians from their sports teams.

They have told us it!s offensive to them and harmful to their children. When the majority of the people

we say we are honoring tell us they don !t feel honored, but instead feel offended, why does Berlin High

School continue to use their name?

These people are not outside radical agitators. They are the people whose ancestors lived on this

land. Their great-great grandmothers and grandfathers were the Mascoutins who assimilated into othetribes. These are the very people we say we are honoring with our mascot. These are the people we

say we don!t want to forget. We say we want to keep their spirits alive. But their spirits are alive and

they have been asking us to change our mascot since the1990s. Over half of Wisconsin schools that

had Indian nicknames have responded by changing them.

A recent Berlin Area School District mascot survey was done and it was reported that there was

overwhelming support for keeping the Indian mascot. Since 6,050 survey postcards were distributed

and 1,237 responded in support, it is hardly overwhelming. It!s 20%. Most people still don!t even realiz

these requests by the Wisconsin Indian tribes have been made. They are busy with the demands and

concerns in their own lives and haven!t had the time or inclination to study the issues so they don!t reall

understand the need for change.

This is not a trivial matter. Once people realize how powerful this stereotyping is, they begin to

understand why calling sports teams Indians is offensive to most Indians and is harmful to their

children. It is harmful to all our children if our schools not only condone this stereotyping, but actually

model it. Research showing this to be true has been validated by the American Psychological

Association.

Berlin is becoming a more diverse community and for the most part seems open and welcoming to

all. This is why it puzzles me that Berlin schools have not taken advantage of the resources for cultural

outreach offered by the Wisconsin Indian Education Association at the January 2014 school board

meeting. Are we worried that our kids might come to understand that using the term Indians for our

sports teams is disrespectful? Then what? It puts the adults, who feel the need to keep the nickname,

in the awkward position of trying to explain to children why pride in that nickname is more important than

the actual people they say they are honoring.

Please, encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to educate themselves and their children abo

this important issue. Let our schools!educators and our school board know they don!t have to fear for

their jobs when they teach respect and welcome in differences of opinion. An excellent resource for

learning about this issue is: www.indianmascots.com

Many Wisconsin school districts have decided to change their teams!mascots. Change will come fo

Berlin someday as well, and for our children!s sake, the sooner the better.

Jean Bruce, Berlin High School Class of 1960

http://www.indianmascots.com/http://www.indianmascots.com/http://www.indianmascots.com/http://www.indianmascots.com/http://www.indianmascots.com/http://www.indianmascots.com/

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