Paw Paw is a small township of around 7,000 people in Southwest Michigan. Since 1924, their school mascot has been the Redskins. What might have been considered an honoring of the prevalent history of First Nation inhabitants in the local area almost 100 years ago, has obviously been exposed as a racist, dehumanizing moniker for a community that is 90% white to splay across their uniforms in modern times. Or at least, you would think.
A call to retire the mascot has been building for years in and around the community. It came to a head in 2017, when a multi-session discussion with the school board that culminated with a four hour debate, ended with a 4-3 decision by the board to keep the name. The board considered the decision final and it would not be brought up again until “a single tax dollar was withheld.” Basically, a cowardly statement that begged for higher ups in the State to force them to make the decision to change their name. The higher ups in the State (then headed up by future convict Rick Snyder) did not and that was that.
However, in March of this year, the school board voted 6-1 to retire the mascot. What changed? Well, a couple of things. I believe a contributing factor is a current ACLU lawsuit against the school district, stating that Paw Paw was fostering a ‘racial hostile educational environment.’ That lawsuit is still pending, and I am sure the school board hopes the name change will alleviate that charge.
More importantly, I feel, was the arrival of Rick Reo. Reo was named high school principal in 2018 and quickly ascended to school Superintendent. He was instrumental in bringing the school board around to revisiting the issue, realizing the division it was causing the community. Reo took a more pragmatic approach to the issue, saying publicly that although he didn’t feel the mascot was intended to disparage or belittle the First Nation’s people, its interpretation by many does just that, and the controversy was doing noticeable harm to the town and its reputation. He gave the school board an out, a politically palpable way to get out of the situation, and they took it.
What happened next was the blueprint on how to heal a community. Instead of having the board arbitrarily pick a new name, a student led task force of 27 kids between grades 5-12 was put together to find the best mascot for their school. An online survey was sent out through the community to find a list of ten potential choices for a new mascot. Once a list of 10 names was culled, the task force then whittled that down to three potential mascots. Potential designs for the new mascot logos were then submitted and through that process, the final mascot was chosen. They are now (officially on July 13th) the Paw Paw Red Wolves. It was a choice popular with the community and anecdotally, I can add that many of the anti-mascot change advocates share the opinion that if they have to change, this was the best choice.
I feel that a community can grow, recover from past prejudices and assumptions and ideally this is what happens in Paw Paw. Hopefully, 8th grade student Avery Miller is a microcosm of that. She was present at the March meeting when the mascot was originally decided to be retired, saying, “I’d like to graduate as a Redskin, just like my dad did.” As a member of the task force charged with finding a new mascot, she said this just 3 months later: “We wanted a mascot that represents our community that students can be proud of. It gives us an opportunity to be united and show unity in our community.”
I hope this small town in Michigan can act as template for others. When you drop your assumptions, selfishness and stubborn attitudes, great things can happen. Sometimes it’s not about you, but instead all of you. Are you listening, Dan Snyder?
Tuesday, Jun 23, 2020 · 6:48:17 PM +00:00
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kalspa
Since this diary has now made community spotlight, (thank you for that) I felt a little action was warranted. Here is a link to an active petition for the Washington NFL team to change its name. This is an older petition, but due to the societal change of the past few weeks, has had new life sprung into it. No better place than here, no better time than now.