Board of Ed Outlaws Native American Mascots in NY, What's Next for Mahopac? (2023)

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Board of Ed Outlaws Native American Mascots in NY, What's Next for Mahopac? ›

According to ABC 7, the board voted unanimously to prohibit the use of Native American themed images, names and mascots. Team mascots and logos are expected to be changed by the end of the 2024-2025 season. Any schools who do not comply with the ruling will be denied state funding.

The state's former education commissioner Richard Mills asked schools “to end the use of Native American mascots as soon as practical” back in 2001. However, at least 133 schools in 55 districts still had native-themed mascots as of March 2022, according to a report by the National Congress of American Indians.

And across the U.S., nearly 2,000 school districts also still feature a Native mascot, according to the National Congress of American Indians.

For now, the team mascots for teams at both Mahopac and Ketcham are the Indians – the last schools in the Hudson Valley to retain the mascots that the state Department of Education since 2001 has sought to eliminate.

Although the number has been shrinking, there are currently 1,232 high schools with Native American team names, according to my analysis of data from MascotDB. That includes 411 Indians and 107 Chiefs or Chieftains, and there are still 45 schools that bear the former name of the Washington Football Team.

For Col. Richard Henry Pratt, the goal was complete assimilation. In 1879, he established the most well known of the off-reservation boarding schools, the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Such mascot changes follow decades of nationwide advocacy from groups like the National Congress of American Indians. The group recently found that about 2,000 schools continue to use Native American-themed mascots like “chiefs,” “braves,” “Indians,” and “warriors,” often coupled with racist imagery, slogans, or songs.

According to a federal report, Oklahoma was home to more Indian boarding schools than any other state. The report, released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of the Interior, was based off a study that identified 408 Indian boarding schools across 37 states since the early 19th century.

While advocates have made strides in getting Native American symbols and names changed in sports, they say there's still work to do mainly at the high school level, where mascots like Braves, Indians, Warriors, Chiefs and Redskins persist.

Eastern Connecticut State University (Warriors) East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (Warriors) Merrimack College (Warriors) University of North Carolina at Pembroke (Braves) – originally created to educate American Indians, and since its creation has had close ties to the local Lumbee tribe.

What rank is Mahopac hs? ›

What is Mahopac High School's ranking? Mahopac High School ranks among the top 20% of public schools in New York for: Highest overall rank (Top 20%), Highest math proficiency (Top 5%) and Highest graduation rate (Top 10%).

Bulldogs

You'd be unwise to pick a fight with a bulldog bulldog, no matter how cute they may look. It's no wonder the bulldog stands as of the most common high school mascots around today. And why not? Even the name is pretty effective, certainly more intimidating than a Pekingese or Chihuahua!

Mahopac Middle School is ranked #521 in New York Middle Schools.

When the Philadelphia Warriors basketball team moved to San Francisco in 1969, they decided to drop the Native American logo in favor of the locally known Golden Gate Bridge (but kept the name). Following student protests, North Dakota's Dickinson State University in 1972 dropped the Savages as the school's mascot.

Dolan believed that a professional sports team should unite a city, not divide it. The Indians had been criticized for decades over their name and use of Chief Wahoo. Dolan said the decision was based on discussions with fans and Native American groups and stakeholders in the team.

Following its President's recommendation, along with support from coaches and student government leaders, Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California, wisely elects to change its “Apaches” mascot to “Jaguars.”

The first federally run Indian boarding school was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, in operation from 1879 to 1918.

Only four schools exist today: Chemawa, Sherman, Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota and Riverside Indian School in Oklahoma.

The federal government continues to operate four off-reservation boarding schools for Native American children through the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), but in 2019, the BIE's deputy assistant secretary Mark Cruz said the schools were “no longer in the business of assimilation” and “their purpose was transformed to ...

In the United States, Native American has been widely used but is falling out of favor with some groups, and the terms American Indian or Indigenous American are preferred by many Native people.

Why was Chief Illiniwek banned? ›

In 2005, Chief Illiniwek was one of 19 mascots cited as "hostile or abusive" by the NCAA in a policy that banned schools from full participation in postseason activities as long as they continued to use such mascots.

The investigation found that from 1819 to 1969, the federal Indian boarding school system consisted of 408 federal schools across 37 states or then territories, including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawaii.

According to a new report from the Interior Department released this year, abuse and violence ran rampant. Educators frequently renamed children with English names, cut off hair, prohibited the use of Native languages and religions, and demanded extensive manual labor.

In the late 1800s, the federal government pursued a policy of total assimilation of the American Indian into mainstream American society. In 1918, Carlisle boarding school was closed because Pratt's method of assimilating American Indian students through off-reservation boarding schools was perceived as outdated.

While it doesn't say how many were church-run, an earlier report by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition found that more than 150 were, about half each by Catholic and Protestant groups.

The psychological research is clear — the use of native mascots is detrimental for native people, said study co-author Arianne Eason, assistant professor of psychology at UC-Berkeley. These mascots decrease native individuals' self-esteem, community worth and achievement-related aspirations, she said.

On May 17, 2012, the Oregon State Board of Education voted 5-1 to adopt a rule prohibiting Oregon public schools from using Native American names, symbols, or images as school mascots.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) maintains that names like Redskins perpetuate negative stereotypes of Native Americans, "Often citing a long held myth by non-Native people that 'Indian' mascots 'honor Native people', American sports businesses such as the NFL's Washington 'Redskins'... continue to ...

A group called the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA) sued in the U.S. District Court to block implementation of the bill as violating the constitutional rights of those Native Americans who favor retaining Native names and imagery, asserting that there are culturally-sensitive uses.

Your mascot provides a common label for all students, alumni, and faculty―it creates a sense of belonging. Your school mascot unites everyone under one name, makes everyone feel included, and connects students to each other and to the school.

How do Native Americans get their names? ›

In our culture, traditionally, one was not named at birth. We were gifted a name at an appropriate age based off of elements specific to the that person. This could include (but not limited to) significant happenings to or by the person, or characteristics that define the person.

Mahopac High School 2022 Rankings

Mahopac High School is ranked #4,672 in the National Rankings. Schools are ranked on their performance on state-required tests, graduation and how well they prepare students for college.

Mahopac High School is a highly rated, public school located in MAHOPAC, NY. It has 1,337 students in grades 9-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 12 to 1.

1. International Academy*, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. 2. Stanton College Prep*, Jacksonville, Fla.

1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

Nationwide, these are the three top schools with the most graduates who registered at Harvard, Princeton or MIT from 2015-18: Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia: 96; Stuyvesant High School in New York City: 94; and Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire: 87.

The Davidson Academy

#1 Best Public Middle Schools in America.

Mahopac Middle School is a highly rated, public school located in MAHOPAC, NY. It has 888 students in grades 6-8 with a student-teacher ratio of 9 to 1.

In its policy promulgation, the NCAA declared that schools with offensive mascots and imagery could not display their logos on the court or field or on a uniform, nor could they allow students to don the mascot costumes on the sidelines during any postseason play.

Are Native American mascots banned? ›

New York is the latest state to ban Native American school mascots New York on Tuesday became the latest state in the nation to move to force schools to do away with the use of Native American team names or mascots.

The term "Indian," in reference to the original inhabitants of the American continent, is said to derive from Christopher Columbus, a 15th century boat-person. Some say he used the term because he was convinced he had arrived in "the Indies" (Asia), his intended destination.

The team moved spring training back to Arizona in 2009 and the use of Chief Wahoo on signage and at the park was discontinued in a response to the large Native American community in the state. This was one of the team's first moves to retire the use of Chief Wahoo.

For most of us, the Cleveland “Guardians” will always be the Cleveland “Indians.” No matter how offensive the left claims that is. In fact, most fans in Cleveland still call them the Indians and still wear Indians gear to the games.

Common nicknames for the Indians were the "Tribe" and the "Wahoos", the latter referencing their longtime logo, Chief Wahoo. After it came under criticism as part of the Native American mascot controversy, the team ceased using the name "Indians" following the 2021 season, and were renamed the "Guardians" for 2022.

The group recently found that about 2,000 schools continue to use Native American-themed mascots like “chiefs,” “braves,” “Indians,” and “warriors,” often coupled with racist imagery, slogans, or songs.

Azusa High's mascot has been Aztecs since the school opened in 1956.

College mascots that gained support from local tribes include the Central Michigan University Chippewas, the Florida State University Seminoles, and the Mississippi College Choctaws.

The list below for secondary schools in the United States and Canada remains substantial, with 358 teams currently calling themselves "Indians", 113 "Braves", 66 "Chiefs", 156 "Warriors" using Indigenous imagery (there are many with the name using generic, Greek or Roman mascots), and 37 "Redskins".

What is the new name for the Aztecs? ›

On the road, their god Huitzilopochtli forbade them to call themselves Azteca, telling them that they should be known as Mexica.

Associated Students approve a resolution to oppose the Aztec warrior and hold a student referendum to vote on "non-human" mascots. The Aztec Warrior becomes official through a referendum vote of students and alumni. SDSU debuts "Zuma," a jaguar mascot, at football games.

MATOS MOCTEZUMA: The Aztec religion was primarily polytheist. They had different gods, male and female. The sun god was Tonatiuh. There were many deities, and they were revered in monthly festivities with rich offerings.

Today, the NFL includes several Native American players. To name a few, Kansas City Chiefs long snapper James Winchester is of full Choctaw descent. Chicago Bears quarterback Tyler Bray is Potawatomi. Legendary Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has mentioned that he is part Native American.

However, there were still deeply problematic elements specific to the MLB team. Chief Wahoo remained the most stereotypical depiction of Native Americans in sports, and with backlash mounting against the Washington Football Team, Cleveland began phasing out use of the logo.

Chief Wahoo is a logo that was used by the Cleveland Indians, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1951 to 2018.

CHIEF WAHOO is a caricature of a Native American that was used from 1947 to 2018 in many facets of the CLEVELAND INDIANS' uniform.