How one Wisconsin school district changed its Native American race-based mascot

Barbara Munson recalls how, in 1957, when she was a high school freshman, she saw cheerleaders from a neighboring school district wear feather headdresses at a game and display stereotypical antics.

She was mortified.

Munson, who's Oneida, couldn’t understand how this performance was supposedly depicting her people. She felt mocked and condescended.

The school district was Weyauwega-Fremont, about 30 miles west of Appleton, and until recently, its mascot was the Indians.

Phillip Tubbs, Weyauwega-Fremont district administrator, said it was a somewhat lengthy process of changing the mascot to the Warhawks, starting in 2019 with a series of public meetings and consultations with local tribal legislatures.

He said the district had already retired the Native American headdress logo years earlier and replaced it with a “WF.”

Following the examples of national sports teams, such as the NFL's Washington Commanders and Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians, that changed their names, Tubbs said it no longer was appropriate for the school to be using Indians.

Tubbs said announcers wouldn’t use the name Indians during home games, but announcers at opposing schools would sometimes still refer to Weyauwega-Fremont as the Indians.

So, school officials decided to officially change the mascot.

“The kids really wanted to have an identity and they wanted to have some sort of mascot,” Tubbs said.

During public meetings about the proposed change, some people argued that the Indians mascot shouldn’t be offensive and that tribes should be more appreciative of the honor.

“People don’t like change,” Tubbs said.

He said school officials also talked with local tribal leaders from the Oneida and Menominee nations about the proposed change.

Tubbs said no one from the tribal communities saw the Indians mascot as an honor to them. They supported the change.

In November 2020, school officials created a Google form accessible through the district’s website, asking for suggestions for a new mascot.

They narrowed it down to about 10 and asked the public to vote for one before settling on Warhawks in early 2021.

Tubbs said there was some cost involved in adding the new Warhawks logo to sports equipment, jerseys and the gym floor and officials are still looking to buy a Warhawk mascot costume.

He said the school community has been receptive of the new mascot and are appreciative of something to rally around.

But Tubbs said some alumni are still having a hard time with the change and say they team will always be the Indians.

“And that’s fine,” he said. “That’s part of our history.”

Tubbs said any school districts considering changing their Native American race-based mascot should start by getting the community involved and collect all the advice, information and feedback.

“If you’re doing it for the right reasons, you just need to do it,” he said.

There are still about two dozen school districts in Wisconsin that use Native American race-based mascots or logos.

Munson heads the Mascot Task Force for the Wisconsin Indian Education Association, which is focused on urging districts to retire their Native mascots.

More: These Wisconsin high school students, inspired by their First Nations education, are rallying against Native American mascots

She added her name to the list of local and national tribal officials on an open letter to school districts across Wisconsin earlier this year, urging them to retire their Native mascots.

“Out of respect for tribal sovereignty, we ask that you heed the voices of tribal leaders representing hundreds of Tribal Nations and the organizations that serve their citizens when assessing where Indian Country stands on this issue,” the letter read. “To that end, we invite you to begin a dialogue with us to learn about contemporary Tribal Nations and Native peoples and why these mascots degrade us, misrepresent who we are and dismiss the many important contributions we have made, and continue to make, to this country.”

Gov. Tony Evers also has made money available from tribal gaming revenues to help offset the costs for districts to change their mascots.

Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at [email protected] or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: How this Wisconsin school district changed its Native American mascot