Jessica D

Mascots

            Mascots have always been a problem where I live, left and right you see schools changing their mascots because it offended somebody. But when are people going to learn that we can’t all agree on something, everything is going to upset someone.  I am from Arlee, MT and my mascot is the Arlee Warriors, and when we walk into another school we hold our heads high because we are The Warriors. My point is that when a school has a mascot, you cannot take that away from them and expect them to still feel the same about their school, and you can’t please everyone.

            Arlee is on the reservation and everyone here respects that, we also respect our mascot that is a Native American Warrior head. All of the junior high and high school show up with honor as the strut their stuff into a new school with their mascot big and on the front of their jersey. Now imagine if that was all taken away from us? Would we still walk as tall then? Probably not, we would be disappointed with the change. Everyone would laugh at the new found mascot; we would be covered in shame. Nobody wants to have pride in one thing and have it ripped away from them and expected them to honor it the same way. Pride is something that is earned; you can’t place a new face for them and want the same school spirit. It takes time to acquire pride and honor, we have got that now.

            Next I would like to point out that not everyone is going to agree on one mascot. There is always going to be that one person that is going to be offended by everything. For example I remember two years ago we stopped saying the pledge of allegiance because the part where it says “Under God We Trust” was taken in offence. Were we going to change it? No, we just stopped, upset that something that I have grown up doing every morning was taken away because of one complaint. So why should a few complaints take away the mascot? Not everyone is going to like what we are proud of. We should hold our heads high and show what we are made of no matter how many people we upset. Because this is what we are and we should be able to show off of what we are truly made of. Not something that somebody else thinks is more “Appropriate”.

            Now I do realize there is a fine line of mockery and honor. There is a place where we do need to stand, but across that line is mockery and that is disrespectful. But then again who sets that fine line? Is it the Native Americans on the reservation, is it the majority of the people, or should it be based upon the school faculty and students? No one knows, but we all have a part in this school and it should be based upon on everyone’s opinion.

            So my question for you is what side do you want to take? Will you go the way of pride and honor or do you believe that we are mocking a lot of people’s ancestors? Or are you in the easy middle. Whatever you are I encourage you to fight for what you believe, and let people know what you think.