An Open Letter to the Cambridge Central School BOE
Ahead of the June 17th Meeting
My hope is that when you are imagining who this vote will affect, it will first be Indigenous people and a member of the class of 2025 or 2031 and only after that a member of the class of 1975 or 1981. The students are, after all, the people that must wear the uniforms with the mascot.
Serving as a student representative to some committees this year, I've learned how significant the responsibility the school has to be an equitable place is- a place where everyone- every single student- feels welcome, safe, and supported. That this mascot could create an unwelcome or hostile environment for even a single student is enough to justify its removal.
Graduation is rapidly approaching and with an ending such as this one, reflection is all but natural. Looking back on my thirteen years of education, athletics, and other extracurricular activities at Cambridge Central School, I can definitively say that the school’s mascot never, in any way, improved upon my understanding of Indigenous history, culture, or issues. It has only contributed to a miseducation filled with misconceptions. Reflecting back, students and fans were doing things that were really not okay by anyone's standards, but thought it was acceptable because of this mascot. You would be (intentionally or not) subjecting yet another generation to that miseducation by keeping the mascot- a disservice to them and the world they will interact with.
The mascot does not bring about honor or respect. But how could it? The fundamental problem with the mascot is displayed quite clearly on the "Protect the Pride" signs: where it says "We are the Indians" or when teams are announced as “the Indians”. The vast majority of the student body and community are in fact not ‘Indians’, but are temporarily assuming the identity of a group of people that have been (and are being) so horribly treated. So right in the basis of the purpose of a mascot this is deeply flawed. In its very existence it requires cultural appropriation and offense.
The Cambridge ‘Indians’ mascot is harmful in so many ways: primarily in its offense towards Indigenous people and people of color, and also in the miseducation and severe misconceptions it teaches all students.
Whether the community is ‘ready’ or not for this change should not be so heavily weighed in the decision when this is a necessity for the school- a place for children Pre-K to 12th grade.
The mascot really must go. Some say that in the next few years or decade it will probably be removed at the state level anyway, but to delay the decision and continue to uphold such harm with an indefinite ending would be an absolute disservice and neglect of responsibility.
And, in regards to the recent yearbook incident: How can a school adequately address an issue of racism or cultural disrespect/offense in one area while upholding it in another? If the board formally votes to keep the mascot it signals that the harm and offense many Indigenous people feel from it does not matter- an example that students will see. If the school is willing to ignore the harm it is causing people, then what is it teaching the students to do?
Vote to remove the mascot.
The courage to change is a most beautiful thing.
Respectfully,
Fiona Mooney
Class of 2021 Valedictorian
Student Council President
National Honor Society President