Kansas Commission of Civil Rights
Kansas News
The Topeka Capital-Journal
Saturday, May 26, 2001
Indians applaud rights group's mascot position
By Matt Moline
Special to The Capital-Journal

MANHATTAN -- Indian leaders are praising a new Kansas Human Rights Commission policy statement that "strongly encourages the discontinuance" of Indian-related logos and symbols, including high school mascots.

The statement was adopted by a vote of 6-0 nine days ago following a meeting earlier this month involving representatives of Kansas State University's Native American Student Body group and KHRC chairman James Butler, according to NASB spokesman Lucas Bessire.

"I really respect the commitment to diversity and equality as demonstrated by the commission," Bessire said Saturday. "I was banking on someone who was enlightened and conscientious who would take that step, and Mr. Butler did.

It not only required that he take the step himself, he convinced everybody on the board."

Policy statement

This is the agency's complete text:

• "The Kansas Human Rights Commission strongly encourages the discontinuance of publicly displayed symbols, images, mascots, logos and nicknames that may be perceived to be disrespectful in the depiction of Native Americans."

Kickapoo Nation member Chick Hale, of Horton, compared the KHRC initiative with an even stronger recommendation in April from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, calling for an outright end to the use of Indian images and team names by non-Indian schools.

"It's another step in the right direction, and of course, I'm very, very pleased," Hale said. "I can't find the language to express it, but about the only thing I can say is, 'It's about time.'"

Hale said the decision by the KHRC, which is a tax-supported public agency, gives some credibility to activists who oppose the use of Indian mascots and nicknames at public schools.

"No question it will have an effect on people," Hale said. "However, some people are going to say, 'Well, it's still not a law,' and they're right. But it's a step in the right direction."

During the past school year, 34 Kansas high schools had an Indian-related mascot. However, the number will drop to 33 this fall in the wake of a decision last December by the board of Unified School District 415 to eliminate the Redskins moniker at Hiawatha High School.

The Hiawatha decision is the first involving a Kansas high school since Indian nicknames became the object of renewed national controversy nearly a decade ago.

Indian activist Joni Tucker-Nisbeth, of Hutchinson, contends that Indian mascots and logos in public schools represent degrading racial stereotypes.

"The stereotyping of any racial, ethnic, religious or other group when promoted by our public educational institutions teaches all students that the stereotyping of minority groups is acceptable," Tucker-Nisbeth said recently.

Both Tucker-Nisbeth and Hale are affiliated with the Kansas chapter of the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media, which was organized two weeks ago.

Bessire, who graduated from KSU this month with a degree in anthropology and Spanish, said he plans to take his group's anti-mascot message to an upcoming meeting of the Kansas State Board of Education.

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