{"id":109538,"date":"2015-09-15T14:48:52","date_gmt":"2015-09-15T20:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/state-may-give-native-mascots-second-look-2\/"},"modified":"2015-09-15T14:48:52","modified_gmt":"2015-09-15T20:48:52","slug":"state-may-give-native-mascots-second-look-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/state-may-give-native-mascots-second-look-2\/","title":{"rendered":"State may give Native mascots second look"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Protesters at Buckley Park joined protesters in gatherings around the nation in November to speak out against the use of \"Redskins\" as a mascot by the NFL team in Washington, D.C.
Protesters at Buckley Park joined protesters in gatherings around the nation in November to speak out against the use of \"Redskins\" as a mascot by the NFL team in Washington, D.C.<\/span>File photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Ute tribal leaders say the state could be a shining example for the nation if Native American mascots were retired at public schools.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, House Bill 15-1165 was introduced in Denver to create a committee to determine if Native American mascots at schools were offensive. The legislation ultimately failed along party lines in the Republican-controlled Senate.<\/p>\n

The controversial topic was raised again last week at a Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs (CCIA) meeting in Ignacio, home to the Southern Ute Indian Reservation.<\/p>\n

Aware that some school districts felt that they were being attacked by the proposed bill, Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia told CCIA commissioners that the state was prepared to move forward, stating that a constructive dialogue was needed. He said school officials should know that the use of Native American names and mascots were outdated and offensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to say to schools, \u2018Your name, your mascot isn\u2019t respectful, and if you want to honor Native American culture in your community, there are better ways to do that, and let us help you,'\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI think that would be less threatening and less coercive, and hopefully more productive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ute Mountain Ute tribal member and CCIA executive director Ernest House, Jr. said a commission to study Native American mascots at Colorado public schools was likely to be established within weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an effort on how to get engaged,\u201d said House.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, House met on multiple occasions with Strasburg community officials, about their school\u2019s \u201cIndians\u201d logo. During the legislative battle this year, Strasburg officials vehemently opposed any mascot change, citing government overreach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are currently discussing changing their logos,\u201d House told CCIA commissioners last week.<\/p>\n

House credited the change in attitude to open discussions that Strasburg officials had held with Native American constituents. He said nearly 50 public schools across Colorado exploited Native American\u2019s with offensive names and mascots in 2014, but there were only about three dozen schools that continue to use those types of mascots currently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a decrease,\u201d House said, \u201cand we hope that schools like Strasburg will serve as a model for other schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Manuel Heart said he would enthusiastically send a delegation from Towaoc to meet with school and community leaders to help them understand why Native-themed mascots held negative connotations among tribal members.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be respectful of the war bonnet,\u201d Heart said, pointing to mascots that feature Indian chiefs.<\/p>\n

Ute Mountain Ute council member Juantita Plentyholes suggested that tribal officials could also meet with various business leaders across the state to launch a fundraising campaign that could be utilized by impacted schools to help offset rebranding costs. Strasburg officials, for example, have indicated that changing their mascot could cost up to $75,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be neat if Colorado took the lead on this,\u201d said Plentyholes. \u201cMaybe other states would follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to CCIA commissioners, some of the most offensive mascot names in Colorado include the Lamar Savages and the La Veta Redskins.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lieutenant governor: Names are ‘offensive’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6365],"tags":[120,21,13,561,181],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-109538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mt-education","tag-colorado","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-native-american","tag-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109538"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=109538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}