For more than a year, Clinton High School alums Kylista and Elspeth Geiger have made a plea to the Clinton Community Schools Board of Trustees to have the school mascot changed because they perceive it as derogatory to their Native American culture. I have watched as week after week these women have come to the board and have spoken during the public comment portion of the meeting.
The Geigers and their supportors have remained, for the most part, respectful and have moved within the boundaries of the laws of this great country to stand up for something they strongly believe in. They aren’t using intimidation tactics. They aren’t resorting to disrespectful language. They are presenting information that backs up their views. Wherever your loyalties lie in this debate, one thing that can’t be underscored enough is that these girls are educated and intelligent and a good part of that comes from the school and community that has stood so firmly against them.
Still, they are called outsiders, but that’s only the beginning. Something ugly is brewing, but it does when protests like this begin to escalate. What comes to mind are images of the Little Rock nine and the rocks thrown at children as they made their way into school because emotions ran so high against them going to a white school. Whether you see this as a civil rights issue or not, it’s playing out much like one. So, the Geigers and their supporters aren’t school children. They are our sisters and brothers.
Passions are strong on both sides. There is no doubt about that. Does that mean name calling is in order, or, worse, throwing rocks, making threats and using intimidation? Where is the civility in all of this? Yes, the protestors have fielded all of these when they haven’t acted violently toward anyone. If they’ve stepped over the boundaries of the frame they are given during public comment, they’ve apologized and tried to remain within the boundaries.
Time and time again, I’ve heard the argument that the district is honoring Native American people by using the term Redskin as a mascot, but I’ll admit that it hasn’t really seemed that way during this debate. If the Geigers and their fellow Native Americans are offended by the word, then how is chanting it and throwing its use in their faces when it is clearly hurtful to them honoring them? How is throwing rocks at them while they are protesting in front of the high school sign honoring them? How is flipping the bird at them honoring them?
What’s happened is both sides have given the word a great deal of power and what’s beginning to ensue is madness. As the two sides stand off, the word grows and grows, along with the anger at madness surrounding it.
Wherever your loyalties fall in this debate, what we should be doing is setting an example for our children on how to stand up for your beliefs in a respectful, nonviolent way. We should be setting an example on how adults can communicate effectively without hurting each other.
Instead, we move in circles with the old patterns and keep spinning our wheels.