Bellevue East may still root for Chieftains, but headdresses and 'war paint' no longer permitted
Source: Omaha World Herald
By Joe Dejka
Their Native American mascot will stay, but students at Bellevue East High School face new rules on rooting for their sports teams.
The school’s mascot is a Chieftain, depicted as a Native American man in a feathered headdress. But Bellevue Public Schools administrators have banned the use of “war paint,” headdresses, feathers, spears and tomahawks to avoid offending Native Americans.
The ban was imposed after various props and costumes turned up in the crowd at the Sept. 25 rivalry game against the Bellevue West Thunderbirds.
Administrators also banned use of the term “The Tribe,” which students used to describe their section of the bleachers, and costumes “that portray any nationality or culture.”
FULL story at link.
WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE
Bellevue East students may no longer use “war paint,” headdresses or other Native American iconography to root for the Chieftains.
Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/education/bellevue-east-may-still-root-for-chieftains-but-headdresses-and/article_7ff32f9d-ae09-56fc-bdd7-9ab959bb1e02.html
We have to drive by the school everytime we go anywhere. We live just a few blocks from where the first white man business (a trading post) in the state was located. The newer Bellevue high school are the Thunderbirds.
The University of Nebraska-Omaha changed it's name from Indians to Mavericks years ago. A west Omaha school changed from Chiefs to Patriots years ago.
Bellevue schools could have gone farther. But this is a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile an NFL team resists changing the name of a team under great public pressure. They could learn a lot from this.
I decided to put this in LBN because it deals with ending something described as “racist”, while teaching students respect for our local heritage.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1888979
