Oklahoma State Senator introduces anti- mascot bill

A Tulsa lawmaker says she was so moved by pleas to remove Indian mascots from Oklahoma schools that she felt compelled to introduce legislation that would do just that.

“It was the easiest thing to do,” Oklahoma State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre told the Native American Times. I followed the issue involving the [Union Redskins controversy] and I realized it is offensive to some people. As an African American I know how hurtful some words can be.”

Union High School, despite repeated requests from both Indian and non-Indian activists, staunchly refused to change the name of their mascot, claming that the cost was prohibitive and that the name was not offensive to them. Union is situated in one of the wealthiest areas of Tulsa and their new Multipurpose Activity Center is estimated to cost $22 million. There are no American Indians on the school board.

The Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism said they strongly support McIntyre’s legislation.

“TICAR has been active in attempting to create change at Union High School…. [We] attended every school board meeting for two years to voice their opposition to the mascot name they say refers to Indian scalps. Union voted in 2003 to retain the mascot. Despite repeated requests from TICAR, the school has never met with [us],” TICAR said in a statement. “Of the 3,000 schools, which at one time used Indian mascots in American schools, 30 years ago, over 2,000 have dropped the use of Indians as stereotypical mascots. Not one public school in Oklahoma has dropped their mascot. Of the 900 schools in the nation which still use Native Americans as team mascots, 165 of them are in Oklahoma.”

McIntyre, a Democrat from District 11, said that the legislation, SB 567, originally included all Indian-themed names such as “Warriors,” but would be amended to just ban “Redskins” and “Savages.” Even with that modification, Eason knows that passage is anything but assured.

“Like anything else, there are some who will support it and some who won’t. I know there are some Native Americans who have don’t have a problem with these words and some that do. I will appeal to the goodness of my colleagues. If the name was the Union Rednecks, people would want that changed,” she said.

In order to pass, the bill must first go through a committee hearing. McIntyre said she expects that will happen within the next three weeks.

My alma mater, El Reno High School, has been the "Indians" forever (and yes, that's an accurate drawing of the standard mascot logo - there is no live mascot). To my knowledge, this has never stirred up much of any controversy here, even though the district has a large Indian Education Program (don't blame me that they don't call it "Native Education"), and is located just a few miles from the Cheyenne-Arapaho nation's Concho reservation (same telephone prefix and everything). And it's not like relations between the tribe members and the other local residents are always peaches and cream.

Back in October, HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel ran a story on similar efforts in California to eliminate Native American school mascots, but the story had a surprise twist at the end: in repeated polls of Native Americans nationwide, something like 80% of respondents either don't object to the mascots or actually like them. This Oklahoma bill wouldn't affect the "Indians" - in fact, it seems pretty clearly aimed at Tulsa's Union school district - but the whole process is still kind of fascinating to watch.