Seven residents, including members of the Jamestown Human Rights Commission, urged the Jamestown School Board to also change the “Red Raider” name in addition to the planned change of the mascot.
Human Rights Commission member and Jamestown Justice Coalition organizer Justin Hubbard expressed frustration by the lack of response from the school board following a unanimous statement from the city committee recommending the district change both the mascot and the “Red Raider” name. He said in by voting to change the mascot, the board admits that what the district had done for decades was racist, “That is what you’ve admitted by saying that needs to be changed. It’s been changed before. I don’t understand why now we’re still doing half-measures and you refuse to go to the finish line when it comes to this. You cannot disassociate the name ‘Red Raiders’ with the horrible caricature that was there when I was in high school. You cannot do that.”
Autumn Dahlgren said the board needs to do its due diligence to change the name, “It is impossible to separate the name and the imagery and expect this to have a meaningful impact on our relationship with our Seneca neighbors. In one of numerous conversations with representatives of the Seneca Nation over the past year and a half, one person stated that ‘removing the imagery and keeping the name would be as if we stopped turning the knife in their back but never actually pulled it out.'”
Student Ex-Officio School Board Member and JHS Senior Annika Spitzer said Jamestown High School has many beautiful traditions but the name is not one, “I just feel like a student’s voice needs to be heard in this. And I think it would be beautiful for us to take a new step in the right direction. And instead of holding on, or clinging onto something that just doesn’t need to stay, I think this would be an awesome opportunity for us to progress, to set an example for everyone else to finally join the pack of making good change.”
School Board Member Pat Slagle said he thinks a conversation on the issue can continue, “I think as the committee moves forward with deciding what the new logo should be, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that we also continue to discuss the name and what that may look like. Especially if there’s movement at the high school that they no longer feel that that name represents who they are and who they want to be. I think it warrants further discussion.”
Slagle invited the Human Rights Commission and Jamestown Justice Coalition to be part of any of those conversations going forward.
Leave a Reply