So remember not so long ago when Radnor School District had to change the high school mascot ?

The issue of Radnor no longer being the Radnor Raiders made the New York Times in 2021. If you click on that photo above, that’s actually the article from the New York Times that you can read.

It was quite the tumultuous time in Radnor Township and I had friends who are alumni and friends with kids currently in the school district on both sides of the issue. And I’m going to be honest it’s not really nasty, but I remember reading after that, and they went from Raider to Raptor, that some other institutions followed suit and decided to go for something more middle of the road, and not potentially offensive in a world with too many lightning rod issues.

You can read the article for free, but you get the gist of it. So I thought I had remembered hearing about chatter having to do with this in the Coatesville school district back when that was happening and sure enough, I found this opinion in the Daily Local from August 19,2021:

I wanted to reach out in the interest of collaboration and community to ask if there has been any discussion regarding the updating of Coatesville’s outdated and culturally inappropriate logo, mascot and team chants. As a Native person I find that this collection is incredibly offensive and today I was further enraged when I saw a posting for the Kid Raiders – I almost fell out of my chair when I noticed the logo of the small unhappy shirtless child.

It’s very important for the name and logo change – there’s no shortage of scientifically reviewed, peer-evaluated research that suggests Native American imagery in sports has tangible, negative effects on Natives, particularly youth.

It’s always bothered me – however I’ve been very vocal on the taxes and change in leadership as first priorities – now that you’ve made huge strides in those arenas – I feel like the environment is right for the next topic on my list.

I implore you to make Coatesville the better place that it can and should be.

Catherine Courreges

Coatesville

Well, as you can see, there is still the Native American mascot in Coatesville. So seriously is it OK or tone deaf?

Now there was even a bill in 2021 in the PA house that would have I guess forced a blanket change for problematic mascot names across the state, and I’m guessing that went nowhere:

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/pittsburgh/pa-public-school-indian-mascots-logos-face-potential-ban

So I posted this on my blog’s Facebook page because I really haven’t decided what to think. I think the imagery in the photo is what drew my attention to it. Otherwise, I probably would have gone on being oblivious to it and it’s high school.

Every high school has mascots but this photographer likes bells and whistles and lots of retouching effects, so the photo reaches out and grabs you. Now people (not just me) are talking about it again.

Immediately, almost after posting what did people think about this, the photographer blocked my blog’s Facebook page because I had shared her post. Of course, I’ve had taken screenshots, which you see above.

Here are some of the comments that have shown up:

I saw #villementality but read “#vilementality.

📌

I’ll take blatant cultural appropriation for $1000 Alex

📌

is there a chance that she is of native American descent? I try not to get too far down the road without understanding the background.

📌

unionville changed, but I think coatesville is a hold out

📌

so is the sports photographer supposed exclude the mascot in her photography sessions?

📌

It’s Coatesville’s mascot…I’m assuming she’s head cheerleader wearing the Chief Red Raider headpiece

And I’m not trying to ruin some cheerleader’s senior year. I just found it ironic, considering that big article in couple years ago more than a couple years ago, where Coatesville school district was trying to “re-brand”.

Re-branding came up again in June:

Now, this lady seems to think it is her sworn duty to promote anything Coatesville better. And that’s her community and I am not showing disrespect for her. You either are or you aren’t and the comments on this were mixed, but this one comment stuck out to me in particular:

I am a Native American and I can’t say I am offended by the mascot. However, I feel the same as those who have said “there should be more history regarding the Native people taught in schools. The Native people were on this land first (and no, Columbus did NOT discover America) and yet not much is taught about the history of my people other than the fiction that you see in movies. That offends me more than the mascot !!

You can’t really disagree with this woman can you? She’s Native American the whole idea of the mascot doesn’t offend her, but she would like the history of Native Americans to be true and taught. Native Americans and other indigenous peoples like the Inuits in Alaska, and throughout Canada, were indeed the ones all here before any of us.

And while the indigenous peoples seem to be celebrated more in Canada, they don’t seem to be consistently celebrated in the US and a lot of times there is bigotry and racism, and what not.

This comment also spoke to me from that Facebook discussion:

The “Red Raider” mascot never bothered me because I grew up with it. But to be honest, “Red Raider” is a whole lot more offensive than most of the other Native American mascot names (“Warriors,” “Braves,” etc.) which at least credit them with being tough and brave. The term “raider” connotes attacking something/somebody viciously and without warning. I’m fine with whatever the schools and/or the community decide, but we shouldn’t pretend that the term is not offensive to Native Americans. (I do like Amanda’s suggestion that our kids learn about Native American culture as part of their American History lessons. After all, when Columbus “discovered” America there were already people here!) 😉

And this comment:

While I am a proud Red Raider alumnus, parent, and employee, I also understand how our mascot is problematic. I am not personally offended because I have no direct connection to the Native American community. I’m not saying the mascot should or shouldn’t be changed; I know it would certainly feel very strange to see anything different since it’s what I’m used to and have celebrated for many years. However, there are plenty of small steps that can be taken to make things less hurtful if we can’t/won’t officially change the mascot. The suggestion of adding more Native history into the curriculum is one such thing. What about a land acknowledgement posted in each of the district buildings, noting the building sits on land originally inhabited by such and such people. A similar statement could be made at the start of each board meeting. Many organizations do this. When we purchase new uniforms, spirit wear, etc. why do we need to include the Chief illustration? Couldn’t we just stick with the big C? There is no simple solution to this, but I believe it’s important we respect each other and understand some people are hurt by the depiction of our mascot, just as some people will feel a loss if/when the Red Raider is no more.

So Coatesville already re-branded in their history. Until 1941 they were the Red Devils. Interesting. It seems that fear of offending the religious won the day in 1941.

There are lots of lots of comments on this June Facebook thread about it. I’m not going to copy them all, but I did take a sampling.

I am sure I will get hate mail and threats because I’m writing about this, which, of course, proves my point once again that people have lost the ability to discuss anything.

I’m looking to discuss it, especially in light of the fact that other districts in Chester County did change. Unionville retired old mascot in 2020.

https://www.ucfsd.org/inside-athletics/uhs-mascot/decision-to-retire-the-mascot

https://vista.today/2021/01/unionville-high-school-unveils-new-nickname-mascot/

There was also a push in Twin Valley to change the mascot there. I don’t know what happened, but Twin Valley probably will ignore it until they can’t.

Now Twin Valley is also being targeted by the ACLU as of November, 2023. I guess this doesn’t really surprise me because I think the Twin Valley School District has issues and have thought that for many years.

– The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of Sloane Wolfe, a high school student who has been advocating to end her school district’s use of its “Raider” mascot based on its stereotypical depiction of North American indigenous people. The lawsuit claims that Twin Valley School District’s refusal to recognize a student club devoted to ending the use of the mascot and raising awareness about indigenous culture violates Sloane’s rights under the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act to use school facilities on the same basis as other student-led groups. 

For three years, Sloane, her older sister, and other students in the Twin Valley School District have attempted to establish an official school club to “Retire the Raider.” Official school club recognition would allow Retire the Raider to meet during the school day, be featured on the school district’s website, and post flyers in school hallways. 

“I want my district to be inclusive for everyone, and silencing my voice is not a solution,” said Sloane Wolfe. “Unfortunately, the district has fought our efforts to change its offensive mascot every step of the way.”

Administrators have refused to grant Retire the Raider official recognition because the students have been unable to find a teacher willing to serve as the club’s advisor. The lawsuit alleges that school administrators actively discouraged teachers from working with the club because many in the community oppose the club’s efforts to change the mascot.  

“School officials can’t refuse to recognize a student club simply because they don’t like the club’s message,” said Richard Ting, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

Like I said, I don’t know the state of the Twin Valley School District Raider issue, but proximity-wise, they’re kind of cousins to Coatesville which, of course makes me wonder how both of them ended up with the same mascot except one is a green “Raider” and the other is red “Raider”.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got on this I’m mostly trying to gauge public opinion and see where people are on both sides of this issue. I will admit that I think if any of these schools are going to keep this imagery, they need classes on Native American history and history of indigenous peoples of the United States, which also include Inuit peoples.

Here is the article from 2017 from the Inquirer:

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/education/coatesville-schools-try-rebranding-to-win-back-students-20170828.html

Is Coatesville School District still employing this consultant and do they still have a PR firm? The article clearly indicates that this issue came up back then as well about changing the mascot. I’m pointing that out because I’m not breaking any new ground here. This is something that has been discussed before.

So that’s all I’ve got. I’m sure the haters will come out of the woodwork as I mentioned before and if they have an ounce of reading comprehension, they will see I’m probing into the topic because it’s timely and it’s one that has been coming up every now and then and not going away in various school districts.

I am not trying to start a new culture war in Chester County, but obviously it needs to be discussed. Unless of course Photography by Ro is just going to block everyone on Facebook? And if she does that, what’s the point of trying to promote her business on social media? 

Stay cool and thanks for stopping by and I guess this is a back to school post after a fashion.

6 PM UPDATE:

For writing about the debate over the Coatesville Mascot, and the Twin Valley mascot for that matter, note I am being harassed. I shared screenshots of PUBLIC post, that anyone in the WORLD can share. There is a little globe. The topic has not ever been the actual cheerleader, who is a cute girl. The topic is whether or not the Coatesville Area School District mascot is tone deaf in today’s world? Should there be a new mascot and should Native American and history of other indigenous peoples like the Inuit tribes in Alaska and throughout Canada also be part of a curriculum? This is a topic in other places including Twin Valley School District where an ACLU suit was filed late last year. Shame on the adults in that cheerleader’s life for not being able to articulate to her that NO ONE is dissing her, it’s a conversation about the continued imagery of these mascots. If Coatesville hadn’t changed their mascot of the Red Devil in 1941 to the Red Raider to appease undoubtedly the overly religious we would not be having this conversation, would we?