People who have a heart can be reached. The Kelseyville School Board listened to the pros and cons of changing their teams” names. They heard that some people took pride in the name “Indian” and would be sad to see this tradition end. They also heard about American Indian mothers who have to deal with their children being exposed to shouts of “kill (or scalp) the Indians” by opposing teams” supporters, and to the mascot and the tomahawk chop, which ridicule all native cultures.
Between the somewhat confused pride of “being an Indian” on the part of white Kelseyville teenagers and the pain of the Pomo people, the school board thankfully believed that the Pomos” feelings of being disrespected and of having their children exposed to some forms of racism were more important.
Now some fanatics, for whom everything is politics and power, are twisting arms to force the school board to revise its decision. To use the vote, or a petition to recall a school board, to go against the wishes of the Pomos, a minority which does not have the numbers to compete against a white majority, is not democracy: it is tyranny, oppression, the perpetuation of prejudice through might. Do these people have a heart?
If these people listened to their hearts and consciences for a moment, and if honoring “Indians” was their true desire, they would then respect and honor the thoughts and feelings of the real Indians who live here and who have spoken, the Pomo people, rather than a stereotyped image on a sweatshirt, period.
Raphael Montoliu Lakeport
