City Hall: Efforts to 'retire' Central logo ramping up again

May 22—EFFORTS TO RETIRE Central High School's "Indian head" logo are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks.

Members of the Central Student Council passed a resolution March 25 calling for the Central community to voluntarily retire the use of the Native American logo traditionally associated with school teams and organizations.

School board student representative and Central senior Kellan Barbee told members of the school board's Policy Committee last week the Central Student Council is in the process of starting community outreach and "having deeper discussions with stakeholders."

"This was, is and must remain a student-driven, student-led process," Barbee said. "This conversation is about celebrating moving forward, not what went right or wrong in the past. We can't do this immediately. We have to involve every member of the community that wants to be involved, and if we don't the end goal will not be the best it can be."

The effort is a continuation of similar discussions in 2007 to do away with the Central High Indian logo and Memorial High's Crusader logo.

The New Hampshire State Board of Education passed a resolution in 2002 encouraging New Hampshire schools to eliminate the use of Native American mascots, logos and symbols.

In 2007, Central High School graduate Ibrahim Elshamy took issue with both symbols in a speech before the school board. Elshamy, the 2005 Central class president, is the founder of a Web site called HateMascot.com.

The site condemned Central's Indian head logo as racist. It also connected Memorial's nickname, the Crusaders, to the Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, the Christian campaign to recapture Jerusalem.

"That was the last of this until Central Student Council students decided to restart the conversation this year," Barbee said. "They did a great job researching it, and in doing so found a great starting point for a conversation we're hoping to have."

Student Council members are recommending the Central community phase out the Native American logo by omitting it from new merchandise, signage and items starting with the 2022-2023 school year. The Student Council also is recommending that as existing uniforms, signage and items are replaced, the Native American logo not be used.

The Council also recommends that if students choose, a new logo be adopted, and urges all student organizations, teams and community partners to support any recommendation to phase out the logo and ask members of the Central community to "take time to understand why this is an important issue."

"It's important to note that this recommendation was voluntary and when it was announced it was met with pushback from staff, students and alumni," Barbee said. "And so we decided to push the date back as long as needed in order to have a broader, deeper conversation with students, staff and anyone in the community who wants to be heard."

Barbee said the plan is to form a committee of stakeholders from various backgrounds to solicit community feedback.

"This decision, whatever it ends up being — if the community wants change or doesn't want change — requires the community's investment in the process and the outcome."

Versions of the Central High School "Indian head" logo date back to the 1920s, according to a booklet written by former principal William Burns. The school adopted the symbol in tribute to Dartmouth College, which won the national football championship in 1925.

Dartmouth players were frequently referred to as the Indians until the school dropped the nickname in the late 1960s.

Central High also took its nickname from Dartmouth, known then and now as the "Big Green."

Sportswriters commented on similarities between the green jerseys worn by athletes at Central High and their counterparts at Dartmouth and began calling Central's teams "The Little Green."

Memorial High's nickname was created in tribute to the city's war veterans, according to a pamphlet handed out at the school's dedication ceremony in 1960.

The pamphlet said: "Athletic teams sponsored by Memorial High School will be known as 'Crusaders,' for, in a very real sense, it is felt that those who have served our country in its wars were Crusaders in the unending struggle for peace, justice, and the preservation of freedom."

Memorial's logo is a red and white knight on a steed. The knight's armor does not have images of a cross or other Christian symbols.

Ward 5 school board member Jason Bonilla congratulated Barbee and his peers on their efforts.

"This is your time, your high school year," Bonilla said. "Your generations are our future leaders and ensuring that we're culturally aware and inclusive and accepting. I think it's wild it's 15 years later and we're still arguing this. I see this as crucial work, and I hope that this can have us reevaluate what mascots we have across our district, too."

Ward 11 school board member Nicole Leapley said she hopes this is the beginning of a larger discussion.

"I hope that this will not only be discussed among a small committee within a high school, because this impacts everyone in the state and everyone in the city," Leapley said. "Personally, I find another one of our mascots, the Crusader, very offensive. As a member of the Jewish faith community and a scholar of French Medievalism, I know very clearly what a Crusader is and what a Crusader does and who their targets are."

Paul Feely is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at pfeely@unionleader.com.