EDITORIAL: State shouldn't pass buck on Indigenous mascots

Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·2 min read

May 3—It appears they'll be Warriors no more at in the Tonawanda City School District.

School officials are moving ahead with plans to change the district's logo following last month's state Board of Regents vote to ban Native American mascots, team names and logos in state public school districts.

While it's true a mascot is a symbol that can act as a unifying force in a community — think "Red Sox Nation" or "Bills Mafia" — it's just as true that there are certain names and images that are divisive, and ought to be changed.

School districts that feature such mascots have until the end of the 2024-25 school year to comply or risk losing state aid and jobs.

Tonawanda City Schools Superintendent Timothy Oldenburg told Channel 7 News shortly thereafter that the district was preparing to change its logo.

"We're committed to following those regulations, those changes," he said.

But another nearby district of "Warriors" and its corresponding logo featuring a profile of a Native American man, a braid trailing down and feather jutting up might just be sticking around. While the Board of Regents voted to prohibit public schools' use of Indigenous names, it included an exception for districts that receive written approval from a federally recognized tribal nation in New York.

That exception comes into play for the school district in Salamanca, the only U.S. city built on land leased from a Native American reservation.

And now the fate of the "Warriors" is in the hands of the Seneca Nation of Indians after the Salamanca school board voted this past week to seek approval in keeping the logo and nickname. The Seneca Nation did not immediately issue a decision.

Seneca President Rickey Armstrong Sr. endorsed New York's ban when it was proposed in November, while acknowledging the Salamanca school system's "unique relationship" with the 8,000-member nation. The school's logo, which was designed by a Seneca artist in the 1970s.

"We believe the state's provision for agreements between school districts and Native nations should be rare and limited, rather than an open invitation for districts to go 'approval shopping' among Native nations," Armstrong said.

For now it appears to be putting the Seneca Nation smack dab in the middle — forced to render a decision that could upset students and alumni — or members of its own community not happy with the logo.

"I'm really not comfortable going to the Seneca Nation and having them potentially be the bad guy here," Salamanca Superintendent Mark Beehler said last week.

We agree, if it's the state Board of Regents' goal to do away with Native American mascots across New York, it should be the case for every district. Period.