As students, when someone asks us what school we go to, we say Robert Gray Middle School without hesitation. Nevertheless, some of us may only have a vague idea of who Robert Gray was, while others may know nothing about him. And what does our mascot, the Columbians, symbolize? As it turns out, Gray was a notable American explorer, but there is an untold story about how he treated Native Americans.
Capt. Gray was infamous for acquiring furs by force, and records show at least four instances where he fired upon Native Americans for no reason. What's more, Tillamook Bay was known as "Murderer's Harbor" for several years after Robert Gray fired upon Native Americans there. In another documented instance, Gray kidnapped the son of the Opitsaht chief in British Columbia, then burned 200 ancestral homes to the ground.
As Robert Gray and as the Columbians, we carry on their terrible legacy.
Articles and Resarch about Captain Robert Gray