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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2017
Braves, Warriors: Oregon takes on tribal mascots
GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
BANKS — This fall, the
football team in the tiny Ore-
gon logging town of Banks will
once again take the fi eld as the
Braves. But this time, they have
the approval of the tribe that
originally inhabited the area.
It’s one of many changes
in the works this spring across
Oregon prompted by the
nation’s long-running uproar
over Native American sports
mascots. School districts in the
state with tribal mascots must
do away with them by July 1
or risk punishment that could
include the withholding of state
funds.
However, the state will
make exceptions for districts
that get the approval of one of
Oregon’s nine tribes — and the
Banks School District is one of
more than a half-dozen tiny dis-
tricts trying to take advantage
of that provision.
The state Board of Edu-
cation voted unanimously on
Thursday to approve an agree-
ment between the Banks district
and the Confederated Tribes of
the Grand Ronde, the fi rst such
deal to reach the board.
The current deal, nearly two
years in the making, allows
the district to keep the name
Braves. In exchange, it gives
up the “Indian head” image —
a Native American man with
a partially shaved head, face
paint, ear hoop and feathers
— and implements a curricu-
lum developed by the Grand
Ronde that teaches the his-
tory of its people from a tribal
perspective.
Across the US
The process highlights the
dilemma facing small schools
across the U.S. as attention has
focused on high-profi le battles
over mascots such as the Wash-
ington Redskins.
Minnesota and Wisconsin
have banned Native American
mascots at school districts for
decades, but elsewhere com-
munities have wrestled with
the issue for years, said Jenni-
fer Guiliano, a history professor
at Indiana University-Purdue
University Indianapolis.
Oregon’s
statewide
approach is unique, and its
willingness to allow an excep-
tion for districts that collabo-
rate with tribes calls to mind
the NCAA’s longstanding ban
on Native American mascots
AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus
The Banks High School mascot is visible on the side of the football stands at the school. In Oregon, school districts with
Native American mascots must abandon them by July or risk punishment that could include the withholding of state
funds. But with the approval of the state, a handful of districts are working with tribes to keep some version of their mas-
cots in exchange for concessions, including better classroom lessons on the history and culture of the state’s many tribes.
‘I think it’s great they’re having these conversations, but
we only got here because there was a threat of taking
away their discriminatory, race-based mascots.’
Sam Sachs
founder of No Hate Zone, a racial rights advocacy website
that don’t have tribal buy-in,
she said.
But even with collaboration,
agreements at the high school
and college levels can raise
questions about the nature of
the long-term relationship once
a deal is inked, she said.
State education offi cials ini-
tially did not want to allow any
exceptions to the mascot ban
but eventually bowed to pres-
sure from lawmakers last year.
At the time, some tribal rights
groups were angry at the weak-
ening of the policy that had
been one of the toughest in the
nation.
“You can have curriculum
without exploiting and dehu-
manizing Native American peo-
ple,” said Sam Sachs, founder
of No Hate Zone, a racial rights
advocacy website. “I think it’s
great they’re having these con-
70-plus years
In Banks, nearly all the res-
idents made it clear they didn’t
want to give up the name
Braves — and the tribe was
willing to listen.
“It’s been the nickname or
the mascot for 70-plus years
or so and it’s a symbol of pride
and respect for our commu-
nity,” said district Superinten-
dent Jeff Leo, who oversees
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versations, but we only got here
because there was a threat of
taking away their discrimina-
tory, race-based mascots.”
The
exemption
has
prompted a state lawmaker to
introduce a bill that would ban
all Native American mascots,
with or without tribal input.
Other opponents have threat-
ened lawsuits over racial dis-
crimination in schools.
1,000 students in the K-12 dis-
trict 25 miles (40.23 kilome-
ters) west of Portland.
“We just didn’t say, ‘Oh,
we’re going to keep the name.
We looked into it, we read
things. We didn’t take it lightly
at all.”
The district’s new mascot,
designed by the tribe and dis-
trict with help from Nike, will
now be two capital B’s aligned
back-to-back and surrounded
by a zig-zagging line. Viewed
horizontally, the B’s look like a
mountain range and symbolize
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the town’s location at the cross-
roads of coastal mountains and
a fertile valley.
For the tribe, getting the dis-
trict to update its curriculum
was critical, said Reyn Leno,
Grand Ronde tribal chairman.
“If we can educate people as
to what is acceptable and what
is not acceptable at a young
age, we hope down the road we
won’t have mascot issues,” he
said. “And at the end of the day,
the derogatory images are off
the gym fl oor.”
Of the 15 Oregon districts
with tribal mascots, eight have
either submitted a plan for
approval or given notice to state
education offi cials that they are
working with a tribe or intend
to do so, said Cindy Hunt, man-
ager of the state Education
Department’s division of gov-
ernment and legal affairs. Four
districts opted to change to a
non-tribal mascot.
The Warrenton-Hammond
School Board voted Tuesday to
move away from Native Amer-
ican imagery in its mascots, in
advance of a statewide ban that
becomes effective next year.
The Warrior mascot at War-
renton High School will be
redesigned to be non-native.
The mascot will replace the
Warrenton Grade School mas-
cot, the Braves.
In Banks, the agreement
came with a price.
During the next fi ve years,
the district anticipates spend-
ing up to $95,000 to erase the
Indian head from uniforms,
scoreboards, trophy cases and
even letterhead, Leo said.
The district has already
wiped it off the gym fl oor, he
said, and fourth-graders are
using the tribe’s curriculum.
The school also has a new
Native Club.
The close collaboration
clearly impressed state offi cials
Thursday.
“I can only imagine the kind
of learning that has taken place
at that district and at the tribe,”
said board Chairman Charles
Martinez Jr. “It is humbling.”
For those in Banks, a deal
that lets them stay the Braves is
worth it. When the “Star Span-
gled Banner” is played at every
game, the crowd joins in and
tweaks the last stanza — “and
the home of the Braves” — to
thunderous applause.
“I just remember at the end
of the national anthem, feeling
like they’re talking about us.
It’s time for us to go kick some
butt now,” said Chris Lyda,
who played football and wres-
tled at the high school before
graduating in 1991. “I think it’s
still going to end that way. It’s
still going to be that reverberat-
ing ‘Braves.’”
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