Okemos Public Schools considers dropping ‘Chieftain’ mascot

Okemos Public Schools could be in search of a new mascot after district officials decide whether to drop its longstanding “Chieftain” name, the last remnant of a sports brand that once included images of a Native American heads, among other cultural references. A decision is anticipated in May.

For some students, alumni and board members, the change can’t come quickly enough.

“For a school district that talks about a commitment to equity, it is long overdue,” said school board member Vin Lyon-Callo. “If the professional associations all suggest that such nicknames cause harm, why would we as a school district wish to continue to cause harm if we don’t need to do so? Wouldn’t it be better to produce less trauma in the world if we can so easily avoid it?”

The district’s board voted to remove arrowheads and all other images of Native Americans from its murals, logos and sports memorabilia in 2011 after local residents — and advocacy groups nationwide — began to call for an end to culturally misappropriated mascots.

As what many have been described as a middle ground amid a divisive issue at the time, district officials then opted to leave the “Chiefs” and “Chieftains” namesake in place while replacing the Native American imagery with a large white “O.” The old logos have since been phased out.

And as more sports teams and school districts deviate from Indian nicknames, including offensive terms like “Redskins,” a growing voice in Okemos is calling for more changes.

“This naturally came up again in terms of looking at what we do through an equity lens,” explained Superintendent John Hood. “It’s not really a shock to us that this came up, It aligns with the national temperature on racial justice and equity. Over the last summer, that really ramped up everywhere — including on this issue in Okemos. It became important to revisit this.”

Many holdouts have since defended Indian names on the basis of maintaining local traditions or recognizing regional history. Others, like the Central Michigan University Chippewas, retain Native American identities with the endorsement of local Indian tribes.
More frequently, however, school districts and sports teams are changing names altogether.

The Detroit Free Press identified last year at least 44 schools with nicknames, mascots or logos that made reference to Native Americans, including four that still used the term “Redskins.” Its listing also tracked dozens of schools and teams that had removed questionable nicknames since 1990, including the shift from “Hurons” to “Eagles” at Eastern Michigan University.

The only two that remain in Greater Lansing are the Okemos Chieftains and the “Big Reds” at J.W. Sexton High School — another reference that included an Indian head before last year.

Since then, the tribe has literally spoken. A joint resolution from 12 tribes of the United Tribes of Michigan called for an end to Native American nicknames and mascots in 2017. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights also called for their continued use to be federally prohibited in 2013.

“A growing and unrebutted body of evidence now establishes that the use of American Indian imagery reinforces stereotypes in a way that negatively impacts the potential for achievement by students with American Indian ancestry,” according to data from the Department of Civil Rights.

Several dozen Okemos students and alumni also penned a letter to Okemos’ school board last summer, calling to end “decades of relentless mockery, bastardization and cultural appropriation of Indigenous identities,” among other issues involving racial inequities.

In response, Hood called together a community advisory committee of teachers, students, alumni and other groups to explore whether additional changes were necessary. Hood expects that committee to craft a formal recommendation for a board vote on the issue in early May.

“It’s important to ask whether our current actions create, ignore or worsen existing disparities or produce unintended outcomes with historically marginalized populations,” Hood said. “We also knew this was going to be a very emotional issue to maintain the name or change it. It was also important for the board to make these decisions alongside the community and work together.”

Lynn-Callo said he pushed for a vote last September, contending it “was an easy step and that we could then move to working on transforming more challenging inequities within the district.”

Other board members, however, seemed more comfortable with a six-month review process. Hood also warned the board not to lose sight of the “positive historic parts” of the namesake.

“Nobody was hesitant or against starting the renaming process, but I think it was really important to make sure the community understands and is involved in the process,” said School Board President Dean Bolton. “I would say that we’re all very willing to address this issue.”

Okemos was settled in 1833 by a white man named Sanford Marsh. The name was formally adopted in 1859 when it changed from Hamilton to Okemos, a tribute to John Okemos, a chief of the Saginaw Chippewa in the Ojibwa nation who frequently traded business with white settlers in Hamilton and died in 1858, according to research from Michigan State University.

Among the problems: More than half of the student population in Okemos is white. The district also has such a small number of American Indian students this year that it doesn’t even register as a single percentage point in data tracked by the Michigan Department of Education.

The board must now ask itself: Is the mascot truly serving its purpose as a cultural tribute?
“I know that it does mean a lot to some people. It has to do with heritage,” Bolton said. “I’m not one of those people, but I’d like to have a better sense of how the community feels about this.”

To facilitate that community input process, Hood scheduled two town hall meetings from 7-8:30 p.m. April 14 and 15. More details will be announced at okemos12.net this month.

School Board Member Jayme Taylor said she will “carefully consider” the issue after Hood’s recommendation next month but otherwise declined to answer questions. Other board members — Andrew Phelps, Melanie Lynn, Mary Gebara and Katie Cavanagh — didn’t return emails.

If it comes to a vote, four of the seven members of the board would need to support the change.

The Native American Heritage Fund also routinely doles out grant funding to districts that require new uniforms, signs or other changes after dropping their offensive monikers. Last year, that included more than $215,000 to transition from the Redskins to Red Wolves in Paw Paw.

What about the ‘Big Reds’ in Lansing?

Without a formal announcement or much fanfare, the Lansing School District quietly phased out American Indian imagery at J.W. Sexton High School last January, swapping out an image of a Native American head for a large block-letter “S.” A district spokesman said the “Big Reds” mascot is a “tribute to history” rather than as an abbreviation for “Redskins.”

Board of Education President Gabrielle Lawrence — the only board member to respond to City Pulse this week — said that all other images have since been phased out, noting the district “remains dedicated to evolving and celebrating the incredibly diverse population that we serve.”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do to scrub old images from the internet,” she added.

A large sign still posted near the entrance to the high school features an arrowhead design. Two large Indian head banners were also visible from the back windows of the building last week. Lawrence didn’t respond to additional questions, including on whether she or the board of education has any interest in dropping the “Big Reds” name altogether. The topic doesn’t appear to have surfaced at any board meetings in at least the last year, records showed.