JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, April 5, 2006 7:00 pm
Winnebago tribe member Frank LaMere called it like he saw it. Use of Native mascots, nicknames and logos to Native children is comparable to a bully that never goes away.
LaMere told state Board of Education members Thursday that they understand the wants and needs of children more than anyone else — and this issue of using Native mascots is hurtful to children.
“It’s hurtful not only to our children but to your children,” he said.
LaMere was joined by at least five Winnebago High School students, along with administrators and a school board member.
“It’s hard to fight that bully that everybody buys into, that collective bully brought about and perpetuated by the use of mascots and imagery,” he said.
LaMere acknowledged that some people might ask him if he doesn’t have more important issues to deal with. But when others make light of the symbols that unite Native people — symbols of pride and tradition — there is no bigger issue.
He said he could see no good purpose for Nebraskans to continue using the nicknames and asked for the board’s help.
“We’ve got to start that dialogue to come together as Nebraskans to deal with the issue that flares up from time to time in communities like Ponca, Nebraska, and communities like Wynot, where our young men and young women, our athletes, are disrespected by those who sit in the crowd, because it’s OK, in good clean fun to mock the Winnebago and their way of life and those things that are so important to them.”
He asked the board to begin to understand it in the hope of finding a way to deal with the use of the nicknames by schools.
“I don’t want this board, I say this respectfully, I don’t want you out of hand to say that ‘I can’t do it because my hands are tied,’” he said. “ ‘Cause there’s a lot of things you can’t do for your children because your hands are tied, but you do them, because they are so necessary.”
Board member Jim Scheer said state Education Commissioner Doug Christensen would look into what authority the board has to determine if it could come up with something that is symbolic or something that “has some teeth.”
Christensen said the department would take the issue seriously and come back to the board with a report and a proposal with a timeline.
Board member Joe Higgins said the board should never underestimate the power of the bully pulpit.
LaMere said after the meeting he was grateful for the reception they got.
“I think they are caring and respectful,” he said. “It occurs to me they know their role as those who work in the public trust.”
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.