Bill would end Native imagery for public schools, teams
Ivy Pete remembers attending high school football games in her hometown. But instead of pride for her school, she felt humiliated.
Pete, a junior in high school in Spokane and member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, said she experienced constant reminders of how her school used Native images and names. The front office hosts a glass case containing two Indian mannequins dressed in regalia, “akin to animals in a zoo,” she said. That her school would show such misrepresentations of a diverse culture, she said, only added to her frustration.
“Why do we allow it to continue as harm is being done to our Native students?” Pete told the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee when she testified in support of a bill that would ban the use of Native symbols, names or images as public school mascots, logos or team names.
Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Snohomish, sponsored HB 1356 and said she felt it was time to address the lack of cultural sensitivity when it comes to using Native images or names. Lekanoff is the only Native American member of the Legislature.
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