Letter to the Editor: It's time to change Griffiths Middle School's mascot

Dear Editor:

With our country undergoing a nationwide reckoning of our ideals, and racial stereotypes and insensitivity at the forefront of our minds, now seems like a good time for the Downey school board to reconsider Griffiths Middle School's Indian mascot.

The school romanticizes the mascot as a "brave" warrior but the truth is that Native Americans were brutally murdered by invading forces that stole their land.

The National Congress of American Indians has long advocated for the removal of Native Americans as logos and mascots. This is what they write on their website: "The intolerance and harm promoted by these “Indian” sports mascots, logos, or symbols, have very real consequences for Native people.

Specifically, rather than honoring Native peoples, these caricatures and stereotypes are harmful, perpetuate negative stereotypes of America’s first peoples, and contribute to a disregard for the personhood of Native peoples."

I hope the school board recognizes that an Indian mascot is dangerously outdated and considers a change. Now is the time.

Polly Contreras
Downey