To the editor:

My senior year at Dartmouth High School was in 2020 — you can imagine how that went. 

As president of the Speech and Debate club, a member of the Student Council, and the sole Student Body representative at School Committee meetings, I attempted to understand and express the concerns of the student population and foster a conversation about those issues. 

The “Indians” question was a primary concern to many of my peers during the beginning months of my final year. I held a debate meeting dedicated to our school’s name early in the year and was met with various opinions, some nuanced and some ignorant, that have shaped the view that I hold today.

I emphatically believe that the “Indians” name and logo is a hurtful symbol that portrays indigenous people in a harmful way to our understanding of their culture. 

I have seen the argument that equates removing the name with “erasing” native culture in our community.

I could not disagree more.

If we want to create a school environment where the history of the Wampanoag tribe is appreciated and understood, we should teach about them, not display a caricature of them on our uniforms and merchandise. 

At DHS, I never learned about the Wampanoags until the logo became controversial. In my four years of being an Indian, I only was exposed to the mascot in connection to the white people wearing the uniforms. 

The debate session was civil and informative, and I was excited to advocate for a new mascot. Then the school closed due to Covid and suddenly, though it wasn’t in the way that I had hoped, I was no longer an Indian.

Brendan Rego,

Dartmouth High, Class of 2020