As an old white guy who graduated from Bountiful High School in 1971, I offer a historical anecdote that illustrates why the high school’s mascot, the Braves, must go.
When I was a student, our cheerleaders adopted the coup stick as a device to rally the fans. When a cheerleader held the stick aloft, the fans exploded with noise. This continued until one day Principal Donald Wright came over the intercom, explained that he had been informed that the coup stick is a sacred religious symbol in some Indigenous tribes, and that the cheerleaders must stop using it immediately. Call it a matter of respect.
Wright was right. His decision exemplifies why whites should not appropriate symbols from other cultures out of context. It’s disrespectful. It’s racial stereotyping. It’s why white students should not dress in war bonnets, don war paint or wave their arms in a “tomahawk” chop while chanting.
If my old high school wants to do something to genuinely honor Utah’s first peoples, it should require a course on their histories and cultures. I don’t recall learning anything about them at Bountiful High, the so-called “Home of the Braves.” Prior to the cultural celebrations for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games here, I couldn’t even name all of Utah’s five Indigenous tribes.
Stereotype less. Learn more. Could be a good new motto for Bountiful High. And all of us.
Paul S. Wetzel, Salt Lake City
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