The Indigenous Alliance at Kansas State University was created in 2015. It has a mission to “create decolonized spaces at the university and increase the presence, promotion and support of indigenous faculty, staff and students at K-State.”

Last Wednesday Indigenous Alliance co-chair LaVerne Bitsie-Baldwin stood up to voice her concerns on the Manhattan High mascot at the public forum in Rezac Auditorium. Baldwin gave visual examples of offensive behaviors that went unnoticed in the past and stated her claim for the mascot to be removed altogether.

“I knew [the mascot had extreme support] as soon as I came into the community more than 23 years ago,” Baldwin said. “It’s pretty pervasive, especially if you work on campus.”

At the forum Baldwin presented a slide with photos of a past yearbook, a sign at high schools sporting event and a T-shirt, all that have one thing in common: wrongly used.

A past yearbook titled “Through the eyes of an Indian” appeared to have a medicine wheel on it. A medicine wheel is assumed to hold religious, territorial and astronomical significance to Native American Indians.

“It’s like not knowing what a cross is and using it upside down,” Baldwin said.

Along with that was a sign reading “Stomp the Indians.”  

“Stomp the Indians. Stomp the white people. Stomp the black people. Stomp the Asian people. Stomp the Muslims. That’s not normal,” Baldwin said. “That’s trying to normalize violence against a people.”

The tribal elder T-shirt for the cross country team parents was used as an example as well.

“I think the situation there is they’re supporting their student athlete,” Baldwin said. “But, what they don’t understand is that tribal elder is not something you can just buy with a shirt. Tribal elders have a deep responsibility to the culture.”

ReImageMHK

“These are parents who love their children and don’t want to show any disrespect, and yet they put on shirts that casually steal a title that they have no right to.  It would be like putting on a uniform and wearing medals from wars that you were never in:  you didn’t earn that, and you shouldn’t wear it,” ReImageMHK member Joe Sutliff Sanders said. “These parents don’t intend anything other than to show love and support for their children, and if our mascot were “The Pirates,” they would have written something like “First Mate” on the back.  If we were “The Grizzlies,” they would have written “Den Mother.”  But because we’re the Indians, they wrote “Tribal Elder.”

Baldwin,Sanders and many other manhattan citizens belong to a local organization called Reimage MHK. Reimage is a group of like-minded individuals who stand behind the decision to change the mascot.

“What makes this issue so tough is that although the people who want to retire the mascot have objective evidence that proves that the mascot damages the learning environment of the school, the people who want to retain the mascot have a personal and absolutely genuine attachment to the mascot, an attachment that they forged over years or even decades of cheering for people they loved,” Sanders said.

Like many other teachers,parents and staff education is an important factor in all aspects.

“[The mascot] cuts the chances of them being able to hire good teachers that have Native ancestry, because you’re mocking their race,” Baldwin said. “You’re mocking their culture.”

Native education is a demanded increase as well to benefit the Native students and non-Indigenous students.

“It’s exhausting for Native people to be so vigilant and to have to educate on every single issue that people don’t understand,” Baldwin said.

Many people are behind the scientifically proven side of damage behind the mascot.

“If scientific study after scientific study shows that something is bad for education, then you have to change it,” Sanders said.

Though seemingly pro-mascot change, Sanders defends all parties with a peacemaker attitude.

“They are not bad [people], they are not mean-spirited, and they are not any more racist than any other element of our society,” Sanders said. “But this mascot puts these good, well-intentioned people in a position to do bad things.”

All in all both feel ready for a new mascot.

“It’s 2016 and it’s time to change the mascot to something that everyone can get behind,” Baldwin said.