Hot Springs trustees table mascot decision

By Maggie Plummer

HOT SPRINGS - During a June 18 public meeting, the Hot Springs school board tabled their decision on a proposed Hot Springs High School mascot and logo change.

The high school's current team name is "Savages," which many community members find offensive. Students at Hot Springs High, concerned about a recent ruling by the Montana Human Rights Bureau that found the Ronan schools' use of "Chiefs" and "Maidens" mascots is discriminatory, held a recent contest to re-name their school's teams.

However, all three of the new team names they came up with retain the word "savage." The student body narrowed their mascot proposals to Hot Springs Savage Heat, Hot Springs Savage Outlaws, and Hot Springs Savage Pride.

During the June 18 meeting, board members took public comments on those proposed changes, and trustee Robert McCoy moved to adopt the name "Hot Springs Heat." But the rest of the board, saying that they wished to include trustee Sheila Matt (who was absent) in the decision, did not second that motion.

It has not yet been announced when the board will decide on the mascot question.

Among the remarks made by area residents during the session were: it's important to choose mascot words wisely and project a positive image; the current school logo and mascot are degrading and demeaning to Native Americans; the current "Savages" name is divisive; and it's important to have a name everyone can cheer for.

But other residents commented that they're proud of the Savages name, it's just a team name, and it's what the high school students want.

Tribal member LeRoy O'Bennick, who's among those offended by the current name, brought the proposed mascot logos to the Tribal Council on June 7. He and Bill Tuss, also of Hot Springs, discussed the issue and asked Council to help them remove the logo.

The Council unanimously approved a motion to reaffirm past Council actions on mascots being derogatory to Indians - namely, Resolution 00-173, approved in May 2000, that denounced the use of 'Indian' mascots, logos, emblems, or any imagery depicting Native Americans or tribal cultures and urged the elimination of these designations and imagery in all schools.

The 2000 resolution "encourages all School District Boards of Trustees to promptly commence with the removal of such mascots, emblems, or symbols from the public school system."

It also states that "the inappropriate and insensitive practice of using 'Indian' mascots, emblems, or symbols disparages the traditional cultures of Native students in the public school system and hinders cultural awareness of their heritage by equating Indian people to animals and inanimate objects most commonly used for team mascots; ...the use and display of negative racial stereotypes promotes ignorance and discrimination in the schools and such designations are pejorative, derogatory, denigrating, offensive and overtly racist; and ...outmoded racial designations such as Savages, Braves, Warriors, Chiefs, Bravettes, Maidens and others are an affront to Native people and combined with inappropriate symbolism serve only to separate, marginalize, discount, confuse and intimidate Indian children."

Such "inaccurate racial depictions," the resolution continues, "are harmful because they mock Indian people, cultures and traditions while diminishing the dignity and cultural integrity of Native Peoples which is essential for self-determination efforts."

The Native American mascot issue is contentious in many areas of the U.S., not just Montana.

For example, the University of Illinois announced this past winter that its controversial mascot, "Chief Illiniwek," will no longer perform at athletic events on the Urbana-Champaign campus. As a result of that decision, the university became eligible to host post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship events.

The Chief Illiniwek mascot tradition began in 1926 in conjunction with the Marching Illini, the university's marching band. Criticism of the tradition intensified in recent years, and since the mid-1970s the Chief has been a topic of heated debate at the university.