Wichita schools drop Redskins mascot from North High

Wichita North High School will drop the use of its Redskins mascot.

The Board of Education, in a unanimous vote, decided to end the mascot’s use over a two-year period.

“We have a wonderful opportunity to correct a past wrong,” said board president Stan Reeser.

A committee created by Wichita Public Schools to study the mascot determined: “the term is offensive to Native Americans and the Native American Culture. The term is racially and culturally insensitive.”

Starting next school year, the district will start removing “Redskin” from athletic and fine arts uniforms, jerseys and facilities, as well as school-related activities and school apparel. Trophies and statues are exempted from the removal.

“This is not about rewriting history, or erasing the great pride and accomplishments of the Wichita North High community and alumni,” said Terrell Davis, the USD 259 director of special projects and the head of the mascot committee.

Reeser said the decision will help heal wounds while respecting the school’s legacy, adding that diversity is the district’s greatest strength.

“It is clear this term has become derogatory with racial overtones,” he said.

Public response was swift, with some calling the change long overdue.

“This is a change that should have happened many years ago,” read one reply to the USD 259 tweet announcing the decision. “I look forward to a shift to a mascot that can maintain the traditions without the racial slurs.”

Some alumni said on social media that they will continue to consider North High to be the Redskins.

One commenter argued that “no one was ‘offended’ by the name until they were told to be.” Another said she wished people “would quit calling it racist” and “the mascot held a sense of pride for many.” Supporters of changing the mascot were sometimes called “snowflakes.”

Others on Twitter and Facebook decried what they considered “cancel culture” and “erasing Native American culture.”

“Native American culture doesn’t revolve around North High?” read another tweet. “You want to learn more about it, we have a great place called the Mid-America All-Indian Museum. Just remember, the term ‘redskin’ was used as a racial epithet...”

The museum, at 650 N. Seneca, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The museum does not use the term “redskin” on its website.

No new mascot was chosen at Monday’s board meeting. Under existing policy, the principal may develop a new mascot, and students may be included in the process.

However, the district announced in a statement that North High administration “at this time ... has no plans to create a new mascot.”

The school will continue to use the shield, drum and feather logo.

The board, at the recommendation of the committee, also directed the development of a freshman curriculum at North High that highlights the school’s history and its Native American influence. Board member Ernestine Krehbiel suggested expanding the curriculum to all high schools in the district.

The decision was made with the public banned from attending in-person due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions. The board received 122 pages worth of emailed public comment prior to the meeting. More than half supported keeping the mascot, though others said the moniker is a racial slur and should be changed.

The term was not intended to be offensive when it was first introduced as a mascot at the high school, Davis said.

“It was chosen with pride because we were the only school which could carry the name, the emblem and symbol of the Native Americans,” Davis said, quoting Bernadine Drowotzky Jensen of the class of 1930. “We admired the Indians and with pride could carry their banner of distinction.”

The committee determined that North High was the only school in the district with a mascot based on a race or culture.

The committee found that the term was first used by Native Americans to describe themselves, but it was later turned into a derogatory slur with a violent connotation. In at least one case in the 1860s, the term meant the scalped head of a Native American, used by the government to describe rewards for killing natives.

“You can’t pluck this term out of its history and say, ‘Because my intentions are honorable, it’s OK,’” the committee’s presentation said.

This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 8:19 PM.