Collin Willis

So states the motto heard at every pep assembly, football game, graduation ceremony, and alumni event at North High. Since 1929, North High has been home of the Redskins. 92 years later, that tradition comes to an end as the Board of Education unanimously voted to drop the Redskin mascot in lieu of a new, as yet to be decided face for the school.

As an alumnus of North High this is of interest to me. After all, this is my alma mater; the place where I grew up, graduated, and was pushed towards adulthood. Personally, I think this was the wrong decision. And I say that not because I adore the Redskin name, but because this decision should have been made a long time ago, not only after a national football team made the change first. It appears to me as if it comes from a place of fearing backlash than it does a place of genuine organization change. Ideally, the term “Redskin” would never have been the mascot to begin with, but here we are.

I’m excited that the mascot is being dropped and replaced with literally anything that isn’t a racial slur, but extremely disappointed that it took this long to make the change. I’m also disheartened that a board member felt the need to resign because the district was moving forward in this direction. Particularly when this board member has a history of resignation when it comes to matters of non-discrimination. Now, I don’t know him personally so I’m not going to speculate on who he may nor may not be, but it’s concerning as a former student to know that this kind of policy makes people on the BOE uncomfortable.

My Experience with the Redskin Mascot

The Redskin Mascot did not offend me as a student. I was fine calling myself a Redskin, wearing the apparel, and doing the tomahawk chop at football games. I wouldn’t use it in an intentionally derogatory way, nor to any fellow student or person of Native American Heritage. However, since I’ve left North there are aspects of that culture that I’ve looked back on and felt bad about. While I was a student I was fairly ill-exposed to the idea that racism could still exist and completely blind to things like Critical Theory or even basic transracial empathy.

For example, while I was at North (and for many many years before that) there was a tradition revolving around the Homecoming game and senior night wherein a chosen football player would, shirtless, don a war bonnet and float down the river on a canoe while people yelled chants and lit Tiki torches! This was an exciting thing at the time but now it’s a horrifying memory. How could we as a student body and the organization itself have ever been okay with that?! There is a very fine line between paying respects to Native American Culture and appropriating its more sincere and ceremonial aspects for fun and sport- not to mention the notion of using a racial slur as a mascot.

The History of North High

The artist who designed much of the building’s aesthetic, Bruce Moore, built his ideas off of the site’s history- one which is deeply intertwined with Native American life and culture. The Little Arkansas, though not much now, is the former powerhouse behind Wichita; the source of water for its earliest inhabitants.

The Wichita tribe migrated here in the 1860’s to escape persecution from former Confederates for their support of the Union army during the Civil War. They settled in what is now Riverside where the Big and Little Arkansas meet. Though they would not long after be driven out by cattle drivers and white settlers coming to the area. North High was later built in that area on the site of an old settlement school.

It’s ironic, the City of Wichita deciding to respect the Wichita tribe with a school built on lands they forced the Wichita tribe out of. North High, unfortunately, is built on a legacy of appropriation. Dropping the Redskin name is an important step, but it feels almost laughable given the origin of the school and the longevity with which North High has kept the name.

A History of Change

It’s interesting to me how vehemently people fight for the Redskin name, especially in contrast to Wichita’s history with the Civil Rights movement and Kansas’ greater history within context of the Civil War. Kansas entered the Union as a free state, tipping the balance of power and bleeding for the cause even before the battle officially began. The first major sit-in during the Civil Rights era occurred at a Drugstore in downtown Wichita. While never at the forefront of direct legal change, Wichita and Kansas have both been beacons of change compared to their traditionally Pro-Slavery, Pro-Segregation, Pro-Racism neighbors in the East and South. Yet within the heart of this beacon there’s an institution that has refused change and kept its mascot as a racial slur.

Why “Redskin” is Inappropriate

The term Redskin is about as harrowing as the N-word, the only difference is that we’re desensitized because we’ve heard it so often. The history of both words is darkly rich and diverse. I am not trying to equate the struggles of Black people and Native Americans as one in the same. The usage of both words and their origin is also different, but at their core they are terms used to demean an individual based on the color of their skin.

As white people, we don’t fully understand this. We can’t equate the feeling of being called a redskin or the N-word because we don’t have a word like that, nor do we have a cultural history of that. There isn’t a four-hundred year history of other Americans calling us Whiteskins while they chase us with dogs and whips. We’ve never been on the short end of segregation. The Whites Only restaurants were clean and exclusionary towards all but us. We don’t have the cultural adversity in our DNA to fully understand the usage of those words against us. This means we have to be intentional about trying to understand how others of color might feel when such words are so prevalent in our conversation.

And I get it, it was years and many conversations with friends of color before I understood the bigger picture. It’s not easy to eat crow and acknowledge your own ignorance. But the social media reaction to this change has been disgusting to watch. There are dozens of people calling the BOE cowards, snowflakes, etc. and defending a racial slur over the students attending the school.

#HeritageNotHate

As white people we need to do better. That means less talking and more listening, more importantly we need to work on our empathizing. At the same time we also need to own up for our history. Yes, it’s true that you or I didn’t own a black person, nor did we ever refuse to offer them a seat at the counter. However, we’ve inherited the system that did and we’ve benefitted from it greatly. We need to pursue a deeper understanding of our own history. This means that while it’s important to learn about how the Wichita tribe settled in Riverside, its equally important to learn how it was white settlers who forcibly drove them out. We have to learn the uncomfortable parts of our history just as much as we learn about the idyllic parts.

Sometimes our heritage IS hate. We can’t change what has been done but we can seize the opportunity of the now and ensure that the next generation’s heritage is one of love. That means decisions like dropping the Redskin name need to be made with fervor. I especially appreciate the Board’s pursuit of Native American curriculum at the school; a clear attempt at equipping students with knowledge and understanding that was never at the forefront during my time- and that was only four and a half years ago.

The most daunting issue however, is not that the Redskin name was ever chosen in the first place, but that people (myself included) have been complicit with it for so long. The lukewarm masses said “we’re okay with this” even amidst cries of many who said “we are not.”

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A Way Forward

This is a positive step forward for the school and the community none the less. Hopefully this change will open up real dialogues for families, friends, and leaders in the community. And hopefully this will be an encouragement to take a look at other aspects of schools within the district and things within the city at large that may be tolerated to similar effect. It may be a day late and a dollar short, but the BOE has made a positive, progressive decision none the less.