The Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi publicly rejected a formal complaint from two Vermont advocacy groups seeking to remove Missisquoi Valley Union High School’s Thunderbird mascot.
Chief Joanne Crawford, of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, and Brenda Gagne, president of the school district’s Indian Education Parent Advisory Committee, wrote in a joint statement posted online Tuesday that “at no time does the symbol evoke recrimination.”
“In 1971 when the school district chose the Thunderbird, it was a welcome acknowledgement of the important history of this area’s indigenous people,” they wrote.
In a letter to the state Agency of Education last month, the Rutland Area NAACP and Gedakina, a nonprofit that supports Indigenous culture, demanded the state take action to remove mascots at eight Vermont schools, which they described as “upholding harmful legacies that continue to harm our children.”
In addition to the Thunderbirds at Missisquoi Valley Union Middle and High School, the two organizations also filed complaints against the Brattleboro Union High School’s Colonels, the Leland and Gray Union Middle and High School’s Rebels, Vermont Commons School’s Flying Turtle, Randolph Union High School’s Galloping Ghosts, Green Mountain Union High School’s Chieftains, and both Stowe High School’s and U-32’s Raiders.
The complaint argued the Thunderbird represented disrespectful use of a religious figure. “This sacred being should not be used as a mascot in a public school,” wrote Gedakina Executive Director Judy Dow and Rutland Area NAACP President Mia Schultz.
Crawford and Gagne, in their statement on Tuesday, wrote that the complaint came “as a stunning surprise. Neither Judy Dow nor Mia Schultz bothered to contact us.”
Jeff Benay, director of Indian education for the Missisquoi Valley Union School District, described the Gedakina and Rutland Area NAACP complaint as “incredibly paternalistic.”
“There’s no such thing as a generic voice,” he said. “It’s not like there’s a Native American perspective.”
Benay said he has known Dow for years, and had long admired Gedakina for “really incredible work.” He first learned of Dow and Schultz’s complaint from reading news coverage and was shocked, he said.
He described this move as “breaking the cardinal rule” of community activism.
“The idea of community activism is to work with people,” Benay said. “We don’t tell people what they need to be.”
Neither Dow and Schultz, nor Gagne and Crawford, responded to emails seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.
In an interview with VTDigger soon after the advocacy organizations’ complaint, Devin Bachelder, the chair of the Missisquoi Valley School District board, said he had been unaware of opposition to the Thunderbird mascot.
The Gedakina and NAACP complaint was filed under a new state law, Act 152, passed last year, which aims to eliminate “the use of discriminatory school branding.” The statute required the Vermont secretary of education to create a model policy that prohibited school mascots, logos and slogans from employing racial or national stereotypes, or “any person, group of persons, or organization associated with the repression of others.”
The law also requires school boards to adopt their own policies “at least as comprehensive” as the statewide model. Members of the public may submit formal complaints to school boards if they believe a mascot violates the policy.
Under the law, the relevant school boards must review any complaints. Their decisions can be appealed to the state.
More than a quarter of Missisquoi Valley students are Abenaki, according to the Missisquoi statement. Tribal members and the Parent Advisory Committee calculated that figure by cross-referencing tribal membership records with school enrollment records, Benay said, which is part of annual records-keeping.
Missisquoi leaders have a close and collaborative relationship with school administration, Benay said, including with the school board and superintendent. Missisquoi Valley offers a course in Native American studies and hosts a Missisquoi outreach office that offers tutoring support with college planning. In 2013, the school became Vermont’s first to raise an Abenaki flag, according to Tuesday’s release.
“What we look for is a conversation,” Benay said. “They basically precluded any conversation and went straight for the jugular.”