Nyack BOE Looks To Possibly Change Indians Mascot

NYACK, NY—As professional sports teams nationwide debate whether to change mascots that refer to Native Americans, local school districts are having similar discussions, including the Nyack Board of Education.

Tuesday night board members held a virtual board meeting to give the community an opportunity to share their opinions on whether to remove the word "Indians" from its mascot. About 20 years ago, the board took initial steps to change the mascot by getting rid of the Native American logo.

Following recent nationwide protests that have led to a heightened awareness regarding race relations, Nyack school board president Michael Mark said he's since received petitions, e-mails and phone calls from people in the community to change the mascot's name entirely.

According to The Journal News, approximately 40 people voiced their opinions. Most denounced the use of the Indian mascot.

"The use of American Indian sports mascots, logos, or symbols perpetuates stereotypes of American Indians that are very harmful," said Lycia Maddocks, vice president of External Affairs at the National Congress of American Indians. "It reinforces the racist view that Indians are uncivilized and uneducated, and it has been used to justify policies of forced assimilation and destruction of Indian culture.

As of Wednesday morning, a change.org petition to change the name had also received nearly 3,000 signatures. It reads, in part:

If the Nyack Schools Administration truly wishes to eliminate racism, then we need to address the mascot. Nyack Schools cannot possibly promote tolerance and keep the “Indian” name at the same time. The last time this issue was presented was in 2003, when the board agreed to the removal of the racist image of our school’s mascot. We believe that this was a step in the right direction. However, it was simply not enough and does not absolve the district and community of the racism of keeping the name. We should instead pick a mascot that is not too offensive to depict, something that we can all be proud of.

During Tuesday's meeting, there were a few people who wanted to keep the current mascot's name.

"Many of us stayed in the school district and now have a new generation attending the Nyack public schools," Violet Merjanian said during the virtual meeting. "They, too, are proud to be Indians. It was alumni who raised funds to help create the tower at the new sports complex. I can assure you, seeing Indian name was one of the reasons we stepped up and donated."

There is also a separate change.org petition to preserve the mascot. As of Wednesday morning, it had received a little over 500 signatures. Christopher Carolus, a 2000 graduate of Nyack High School, said the mascot isn't racist. Instead, he said it honors Native Americans.

"I refuse to let people that aren’t alumni or current students try and change the name of the Nyack School the Indians. As a proud graduate Class of 2000, I’m willing to fight this to the end!" Carolus said on the petition's page. "About 20 years ago, we came to the compromise and took all logos down, which many of us didn’t agree with, but we still did It. Well, once again that wasn’t good enough for many people and they want change, and I will not let that happen. Also as a proud graduate of 2000, it was a sign of honor respect and paid tribute to the Nyack tribe that was here before us."

Although no definite decision concerning the mascot has been made yet, the newspapers said that the Nyack school board believes that it would be able to cover the costs - which likely won't be cheap - if it chooses to change the Indians name.

Read the full story in The Journal.