The Future Is Female, Youthful, And Includes A Retired Mascot That Has Not Aged Well

The public forum to consider retiring the "Indian" mascot in Skowhegan was held last night in the midst of an ice storm following on the heels of a snowstorm. Many sensible folks stayed home rather than drive in that mess, and one who missed it was Lily Stark. Lily is an 8 year old racial justice activist who sent this letter to the school board in lieu of appearing:

Kwe Mr. Colbry and the School Board of Skowhegan, 

Taluisi Lily. N’in tleyawi Montague, Massachusetts. Me’tal-wuleyn? Hi my name is Lily. I am from Montague, Massachusetts. How are you? 

I am eight years old and I go to Sheffield Elementary School. My town used to be the Indians before we moved here. My town changed their mascot in February 2017. This makes me very happy because I would not want to be a student here with people making fun of my culture. I would be scared to go to school if there was still a mascot here. People don’t understand that I was L’Nu from when I was born and I am every day. This is my life and my culture it’s not something make-pretend. I do not understand why people want to take my culture and make-pretend with it. It doesn’t make you anything at all but a person playing dress-up. Grown-ups I think also know that it is wrong to take things that don’t belong to you even if you make an excuse. I would get in big trouble if I took something that belonged to somebody else and my Mom would make me return it and say I’m sorry.

How come some people are not saying sorry but are being mean instead? I don’t understand this especially the mean part.

You can say Well she is just a kid what does she know? I know that I am Indian and my ancestors were Indian and my kids will be Indian because that is who we are for real not because it is the name of a sport team. You will still be who you are no matter what your sports team is called. You will be good people if you stop with using a name that belongs to real people who are alive and tell you that it is not right. Please be good people so that real Indian kids are not hurt because that is what you are doing and grown ups should care about kids. Wela'lin thank you.
Your friend,
Lily Sparks

Don't you just want to hug this wonderful kid?

Here's a picture that her mom, Sky Davis, shared with the comment, "This isn't her first foray into speaking out against racism."

"...Lily Sparks, 8...at Northamption City Hall during a rally held in support of Oumou Kanoute, a 19-year-old Smith College student who...suffered through a racial bias incident at the school in July. STAFF PHOTO/JERREY ROBERTS" from the Daily Hampshire Gazette

Local tween girls at the podium in Skowhegan included 11 year old Natalie Cooke who rocked the house reminding the school board to do the right thing. Sisters standing together was kind of a theme last night as Natalie was followed by big sister Annie Cooke, a senior high school athlete who described how troubled she feels each time she is referred to as an Indian while competing in sports.

Natalie Cooke, mom Morrigan Knox McLeod and daughter Ava McLeod all asked the board to retire the mascot.

My great nieces Leah and Sydalia Savage also went to the microphone together.



College freshman Leah introduced her younger sister, who stood with Leah while she read her excellent letter to the board (which you can see here). As the kind of athlete that makes headlines, Leah may have more influence with sports-minded board members than some of the other teen speakers.

Adelle Belanger should also be an influential voice; currently a senior at SAHS, she spoke about her experiences at Girls State last year representing "the racist school" (her excellent letter to the editor about this can be read here). We also heard from female members of the school's civil rights team, a drama student whose name I did not get, and the powerful Skyler Lewey of the Wabanaki Youth Council.

Oh, but she was from away. Not. We are all on indigenous territory!

It was easy to see how things were trending from 5pm when sign ups to speak opened. The line was long at the change table, and nonexistent at the no change table. 

The board had hired a moderator who kept things moving but the meeting still lasted three hours. We heard from alternating sides until the 11 folks resisting change had all spoken and there were still 60 or so signed up to advocate for change.

Around 200 people attended. In an ice storm.

School civil rights teams were out in force, and one advisor, Karin Leuthy, had been in touch with another district that retired a Native mascot. She asked them what they would have done differently and their superintendent said two things: we shouldn't have waited so long, and we should have done more education to help students understand why Native mascots are harmful.

I hope you are listening, Mr. Colbry (Brent Colbry is superintendent of MSAD 54).

Not Your Mascot Maine chapter leader Maulian Dana and Wabanaki youth wore red to show solidarity with missing or murdered Native girls and women. Indigenous females are subject to disproportionate rates of violence which is often never investigated as a crime.

Some of the indigenous luminaries on hand last night were Maulian Dana and Barry Dana (daughter and father, in regalia), the Wabanaki Youth Council, Sherri Mitchell (video here), Amelia Tuplin, and Peter Baldwin. John Bear Mitchell galvanized the crowd by pointing out that board members as individuals can be liable for paying damages if they continue a discriminatory practice after notification.

Dwayne Tomah electrified the crowd early on by appearing in regalia and speaking first in Passamoquoddy (video here). He got a long standing ovation following his two minutes as the mic. "As an indigenous person, I'm not feeling honored. At all."

I meet the nicest people while working for peace and racial justice here in Maine.  I'll post more later about this amazing forum. The tide is clearly turning!