Native mascot reflections, combating suicide with culture, and advancing Indigenous inclusion
VNN Weekly Digest September 22 - September 28
Here’s a look at the week’s top stories:
“We’re not your mascots”: Indigenous alumni recall harm done by Native school names and imagery
(OKLAHOMA) On September 8, the Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education voted 6–1 to cease its use of Native American imagery to depict Webster and Central High Schools’ mascots.
The policy change was introduced at the previous board meeting on Aug. 18.
Prior to the vote, some TPS alumni spoke in support of the Native American imagery, while other community members argued that Native mascots negatively impact Native American students.
The vote to change the mascot imagery immediately followed the board’s approval of a new policy to prohibit discriminatory branding at TPS. With the vote, superintendent Ebony Johnson is now tasked with developing a proposal for new branding imagery for Webster and Central, with input from community stakeholders. The mascot names — “Warriors” and “Braves” — remain unchanged.
Strengthening cultural identity in Native youth, to lower suicide risk later in life
(NATIONAL) “Students who came on the first day kept coming back,” said Valentín Quiroz Sierra, a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Indigenous Health at John Hopkins University, describing his experience working with Native Vision Camp.
Native Vision is a summer camp program that focuses on providing Native youth with culturally relevant art activities and physical sports, with the goal of providing a sense of cultural identity and belonging.
When speaking about the retention rate for the camp, Quiroz Sierra said, “I think that’s also evidence of just how engaged the students were with the program and wanting to stay involved with the Native Vision camp.”
Working with Native Youth is a priority for faculty at the John Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, who see it as a way to lower the risk of suicide later in life.
Read the full story here.
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Native inclusion gains ground under Tulsa’s new leadership
(OKLAHOMA) Many Native American tribes located in Northeast Oklahoma were forced here from their ancestral homelands after the signing of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and subsequent actions. This includes the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, whose reservation covers much of present-day Tulsa.
Tulsa city limits also include the Cherokee and Osage reservations.
While Indigenous people have been living in the Tulsa region for hundreds of years, long before Oklahoma became a state or Tulsa became a city, inclusion of Indigenous perspective and culture has seldom been a city priority.
In 2018, The City of Tulsa revealed its first “Resilience Strategy” which included “Resilient Tulsa”, a document the City described as “an equitable, action-oriented, and collaborative roadmap for all of Tulsa”. The announcement included a letter from former Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum acknowledging that Tulsa was founded by the Muscogee people. But, while it mentioned both the Trail of Tears and Tulsa Race Massacre, it failed to mention the Allotment and Assimilation Era crime and injustice that the City of Tulsa was built from.
WEATHER ACROSS AMERICA
(NATIONAL) A Slight Risk of excessive rainfall over parts of the Southwest and Southern Rockies, a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall over parts of the Southeast Coast, and a weakening upper-level low over the Southwest moves northeastward to the Central Rockies.
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