NAACP branch president asks Dartmouth to retire Indian logo

This article has been updated to include comments from School Committee member Mary Waite and the facts that the diversity committee has yet to meet and that Hall’s letter had not been received by school officials at the time of writing.

The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People New Bedford is asking Dartmouth school officials to retire the high school’s Indian logo.

In a March 26 letter addressed to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bonny Gifford and School Committee members, Dr. LaSella Hall expressed his organization’s frustration with inaction on the issue.

“Members of the NAACP and the larger Dartmouth area community are frustrated and, frankly, dismayed by your School Committee’s inaction on retiring the racist Dartmouth High School mascot,” Hall wrote.

The issue has come up repeatedly in recent years, with sports teams and brands nationwide reexamining their minority representation and bills prohibiting Native American mascots for public schools introduced in the state legislature last year.

In August 2020, officials set up an Equality and Diversity Committee to look into the logo — and diversity issues in the Dartmouth Public Schools in general — after previously rejecting the move in October 2019.

Members appointed to the diversity committee in December include School Committee members Dr. Shannon Jenkins and Kathleen Amaral, community representatives Shelly Scott and Elizabeth Murphy, and Dartmouth Public Schools employees Lily Chamberlain, Kelly Bloom, and Diane Maseri.

But the committee has yet to meet, according to Scott, who noted that she is still waiting to hear about her role in the group.

School Committee member Mary Waite said that she understands the sentiment behind Hall’s letter.

But she noted that as schools focus on reopening safely during the pandemic, staff is already working overtime. “Our administrators are exhausted...as well as our teachers,” she said, adding that the diversity committee will focus on the issue.

In his letter, Hall included a list of 15 Massachusetts school districts that have already retired their Indian mascots, including Barnstable, Braintree, Hanover, and Pentucket.

He wrote that mascots create a negative environment for indigenous people and noted that the school district has not consulted any native leadership on the issue. 

“It is really disrespectful to us,” Hall cited Sagamore of the Massachusett tribe Faries Gray as saying.

Waite noted that Dartmouth High School has an “awesome” curriculum with “a real emphasis on diversity.”

“Really, a lot of the conversations are being held,” she said. “It’s important that if we change [the logo], there’s still education around it.”

Hall also noted in his letter that the Washington football team has many supporters who were attached to its previous “Redskins” name.

“They felt, as many in Dartmouth do, that it’s part of their heritage,” Hall wrote. “We agree, but it’s an ugly and offensive part of our collective heritage.”

“The community is burning with frustration bordering on anger,” he continued. “We implore you to retire the mascot without delay. You are entrusted with the education and care of young people who are grappling with the legacy of racism and stereotypes every day.”

After publishing the letter, Hall said he felt that certain Facebook comments on the issue were “similar to Alabama and Mississippi in the 1970s,” calling the response “kind of scary.”

As for comments condemning “outsiders” for requesting the change, he noted, the NAACP New Bedford branch was founded in 1917, and has always worked within the larger community.

“We’ve been here longer than the mascot,” Hall said with a laugh.

“I welcome a conversation,” he added. “Let’s have one of substance, a real substantive conversation. Let’s be respectful in our conversations.”

Hall’s letter can be found attached at the top right of this page.