The Cortland Standard
by Lily Byrne
Croton, NY – A little over a year ago, the Groton Central School District announced it would change its name away from the Indians, following a state ultimatum — to districts across the state — to either change the mascot or lose state aid. Last week, students announced the new mascot, the Groton Red Hawks. We’re ready to root for the newly branded teams, and we hope you’ll join us.
This is a process that has played out across the country, most notably for the football team formerly known as the Washington Redskins, now the Washington Commanders. That was an especially egregious example, given that the team name was just a racial slur. While the “Indians” moniker wasn’t quite that egregious, it was still a bit of bad language, one way or the other. “Indian” was a term Christopher Columbus coined when he landed in Haiti, looking for India. The term itself dismisses the hundreds of nations and cultures that populated North America — the First Nations, as Canadians refer to them. Today, the federal government recognizes 574 indigenous nations within the United States.
Especially troublesome was the fact Groton regularly plays against teams comprising indigenous student athletes. As noted by Brad
Powless, a council member of the Onondaga Nation and a teacher at Onondaga Nation School, “Many Onondagas attend the LaFayette High School and there have been many instances where opposing players and fans feel justified in mocking the players with unwanted racist chants and shouts. Many feel that this is acceptable, as natives are only seen as ‘mascots,’ and therefore it is acceptable behavior to act this way.”
Schools across the state have had more than 20 years to change their offensive mascots — the state Education Department issued a policy in 2001 telling districts to move away from indigenous mascots, and the Supreme Court upheld that decision. The state Board of Regents finally required in April 2022 that all New York public schools remove indigenous mascots and imagery by the end of the 2024-25 school year. Failure to do so puts the district’s state aid at risk.
For Groton, that risk would have been $14.7 million in state aid the district receives each year, amounting to about 60% of its $24.5 million budget for 2022-23. In addition to being willfully offensive, keeping the mascot would have destroyed the school district.
Regardless, some Groton alumni were upset the school was losing a bit of its history by changing the name of its mascot. We would remind them that the beloved Syracuse University Orange sports teams previously took the field under the “Saltine Warrior” mascot — a reference to the Onondagas, although the mascot was of stereotypical Plains Indians. That was clearly insensitive, and the Onondagas persuaded the university to drop the mascot 50 years ago. We suspect few of those who root for Syracuse remember, much less care, about the old mascot, for good reason. It was yet another boring and outdated offensive stereotype, and its replacement is much better.
As Onondaga council member Powless noted, “They thought they were honoring the Onondaga people with their mascot, but the council pointed out, with all of your good intentions, you still have a native mascot standing next to a cat, dog, or even a purple tiger. That image puts us not in a position of honor, but dishonor and even mockery.”
The new Groton Red Hawks mascot was chosen by the board of education from three finalists, which also included the Grizzlies and the Steam Rollers. The school’s graphic design and communications class created logos and designs, and residents sent in feedback. Red hawks are also a very important animal to indigenous cultures, said high school Principal Brian Kavanagh. They symbolize courage and determination.
We applaud the district’s leadership for getting this process started, and the students for their excellent suggestions. We feel Red Hawks has a “cool” factor that will quickly be embraced, and that Groton athletes will know that the only thing they represent on the field is their school and broader community, rather than a tired, old, offensive stereotype.