HISD board tentatively approves new mascot policy Emotional meeting points to pride, prejudice as schools targeted to drop or alter images

Carol Hoskins-Burks, a 1981 graduate from Lamar High School, attends an HISD board meeting on school mascots Thursday night. Hoskins-Burks opposes Lamar changing its mascot, which is currently called the Redskins. less Carol Hoskins-Burks, a 1981 graduate from Lamar High School, attends an HISD board meeting on school mascots Thursday night. Hoskins-Burks opposes Lamar changing its mascot, which is currently called the ... more Photo: Gary Fountain, For The Chronicle Photo: Gary Fountain, For The Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close HISD board tentatively approves new mascot policy 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

Three schools in the Houston Independent School District are likely to have new mascots that no longer reflect a connection to Native American culture or history following preliminary board approval Thursday night of a policy proposed by Superintendent Terry Grier.

A fourth school, Westbury High, could be required to drop the use of Rebel, even though connections to the Confederacy were done away with more than two decades ago.

Trustees gave a tentative OK to language that calls on schools to show respect and cultural sensitivity in nicknames and mascots. An HISD news release cited the Lamar High School Redskins, Hamilton Middle School Indians and Welch Middle School Warriors as nicknames that would be affected.

After the meeting, Grier said teams that have generic nicknames such as Warriors could potentially keep the name if any affinity with Native Americans was dropped. Rebels is trickier because it was a common nickname for schools with Confederate themes, and to many people it still has that connotation.

The new mascot policy was approved unanimously by the board following an at-times emotional session of public comment. The approval is tentative because it came after the measure's first reading. To be implemented, it must be given a second reading and again receive a majority vote. Measures are rarely reversed if passed on the first reading.

About 20 speakers gave brief statements, roughly equally divided between those favoring and opposed to the proposed change. Most of those opposed to the mascot change had connections to Lamar High School.

"You should be spending your money, time and attention not on changing mascots but on educational matters," said Joe Koch, a 1968 Lamar graduate. "These names were not meant to be offensive. They were meant as a rallying cry to bring students together."

Other Lamar alumni who spoke accused the board of bowing to "political correctness" and trying to impose a liberal ideology.

Current Lamar student Juan Vides said those who attend the school come from many backgrounds and would never regard the nickname as demeaning.

"We see it as a sign of respect, not a sign of mockery," Vides said.

Several Native American speakers said the use of names and symbols associated with their people can have a hurtful impact regardless of the intent.

"I am a human being - I am not a mascot," said Steve Melendez, a Native American activist.

Mayra Fontenot, a student at Carnegie Vanguard High School with Native American ancestry, said the use of terms like Redskin along with icons and logos depicting Indian figures in traditional dress has the effect of stripping her people of their basic humanity.

"You are turning us into a brand," Fontenot said. "It is an insult to our people and reducing us to a caricature."

'But times change'

The policy change prompted only slight discussion among board members. Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones, whose daughter was a Lamar cheerleader, said her decision in favor of the change was difficult because the students, parents and school personnel she knew used Redskins proudly and with no ill intent.

"But times change," Skillern-Jones said. "We have to evolve. If we did not, I would still be called colored. I don't think we should continue to celebrate a name that people find offensive. We should put ourselves in other people's shoes."

Board member Mike Lunceford said he went through a similar experience while a student at Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler, which was pushed into dropping its Confederate theme. Directing his comments to the Lamar alumni present, he said the change is really not a big deal.

"A mascot does not make a school - it's the people in the school and what they want," Lunce-ford said. "You will get past this."

Board president Anna Eastman urged those who opposed the new policy not to misinterpret the board's action.

"This is not to call anyone who celebrates these names a racist," Eastman said.

Effort started by Ellis

The new policy does not refer to specific nicknames or types of mascot. It says that all mascots, nicknames, symbols and items used to promote them "shall respect cultural differences and values." Specifically prohibited is the use of any race or ethnic group.

A petition to keep Redskins as the Lamar sports nickname received more than 2,000 signatures.

The mascot proposal was spurred by a letter from state Sen. Rodney Ellis to Grier in early December. Ellis said a group of local Native American leaders had complained to him specifically about Lamar's "inflammatory" name. Ellis said the name and related mascot of a stylized chief in a war bonnet is "a relic of a shameful and discriminatory past."

After the vote, Ellis praised the board for taking a "step toward eliminating vestiges of racism" implicit in some mascot names.

Ellis' call for change echoed a similar controversy that has surrounded the Washington Redskins. Native American groups have called on the team and the NFL to abandon the name.