On Monday (March 16), a board that serves the Lancaster School District in upstate New York unanimously voted to retire the school’s longstanding mascot and nickname — “The Redskins.”
The Associated Press reports the decision to shed the school’s nickname was partially informed by other schools in the area boycotting Lancaster’s sporting events. “Redskins,” a term many consider to be offensive, was not taken lightly by three surrounding school districts with a significant amount of Native American students — the schools all canceled their lacrosse matches with Lancaster as a result.
The school’s disassociation with the term “Redskins” sets an example of how traditions can be changed when they are antiquated and considered offensive. One board member, Michael Sage, told the Associated Press that “the students in this generation and those to follow need a new tradition.”
The students in Lancaster are being asked to create the district’s new mascot. Though some students resisted the change, claiming it was an infringement of their sense of tradition, others took to Twitter to inspire their peers to use the opportunity to start fresh:
Joel Barkin, a spokesman for the Oneida Indian Nation of Central New York, told the Associated Press that the school board’s decision “made a statement to the kids in that school to be self-aware and have empathy and think about how the actions that you are engaging in affect other people outside of yourself.”
via News
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