It's the first victory for Francine Dupuis, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes who has been fighting use of the names at Ronan - and the use of American Indian imagery at athletic events - since 2003.
Investigator Elaine Benedict, in a 17-page report, issued her finding late last month, putting the issue in a 30-day conciliatory period. The state has assigned Clarice Beck of the Human Rights Bureau to work out an agreement between the two parties.
Dupuis did not return a call to her home Friday. She filed an appeal with the Lake County superintendent of schools in May 2003, but her claim was dismissed, as it was by the state superintendent of schools in 2004.
An appeal filed in district court also upheld the state superintendent's finding, but another appeal to the Montana Supreme Court sent the case to the Human Rights Bureau.
While the CSKT tribal council unanimously adopted a resolution in 2000 denouncing the use of Indian mascots, emblems or imagery by public schools on the Flathead Reservation - in addition to Ronan, Hot Springs calls its teams the Savages and Arlee teams are the Warriors and Scarlets - the issue at hand began when the school board voted in 2003 to paint feathers and arrowheads on the floor of the new Ronan Events Center, along with the names “Chiefs” and “Maidens.”
Maidens, in the Salish and Kootenai culture, are considered virgins and “less than women” according to Joyce Silverthorne, director of the CSKT Education Department and a witness for Dupuis.
Ronan's school board, meantime, argued that Dupuis did not have standing to file a claim because she is not a student in the district, and that her claim fell well outside the window of the 180 days a person is allowed to file a claim with the bureau after an incident.
Benedict found that, because the teams still use the mascots and games are still played on the gymnasium floor where the symbols and words are painted, Dupuis is within her rights to file a claim any time the district uses Chiefs and Maidens as their mascots or events are held in the gym. She also found that “a charging party does not have to be seeking admission or be enrolled as a student in order to assert a violation of section 49-2-307(4)” of the Montana Code Annotated.
School board members both past and present told Benedict they believed they were following the wishes of the majority of their constituents and the student body when they voted to put the imagery and names on the gymnasium floor. A majority of both tribal and nontribal members took great pride in having their athletic teams called Chiefs and Maidens, they said, and a survey of students in 2000 found that 98 percent wanted to keep the mascots.
Dupuis argued, in Benedict's report, that “a chief is a revered and respected member of the tribe, ‘not someone who dresses up in feathers and runs around the field.' Eagle feathers are given for achievement, such as getting one's first deer while hunting, or upon graduating from school. Feathers are not to be used for costume or to dress mascots. Dupuis' grandfathers were tribal chiefs, and they ‘were by no means mascots.' ”
It bothers her to watch people walk on the images and names painted on the gym floor, the same way it might bother others to see people walking on an image of an American flag, Dupuis said.
While many school board members said they didn't understand why anyone would feel anything other than pride by the school using Chiefs and Maidens as mascots, Benedict reported the following from an interview with Vernon Finley, a member of the Salish Kootenai Culture Committee who appeared as a witness for Dupuis:
“Use of Native American mascots is painful for some members of the community, but others don't seem to understand that. Many seem to have the attitude that, ‘We don't intend to insult you, so why should you be insulted?' Š The terms ‘Chiefs' and ‘Maidens' aren't derogatory in and of themselves. The fact that others can look at a whole race of people and think, ‘let's make mascots out of them' is offensive.
“People often support their argument for being ‘politically incorrect' by finding a person or people in a minority group who are not offended by the politically incorrect behavior. It is as if those people are saying, ‘This person wouldn't be insulted by my behavior, so the fact that you are insulted has no bearing.' It may be true that some Native Americans are not insulted by the use of Native American mascots, but that does not invalidate the fact that many Native Americans are insulted.”
Marvin Walchuk, a former member of the board of trustees, told Benedict he had consulted with three elders in the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes before he voted to paint the images and words on the floor. All three were in favor of using Chiefs and Maidens as mascots.
Board member Roger Romero told Benedict the only arguments against using the mascots that he recalled being raised were “by female team members who said it was offensive because people called them maidens when they went places. The students said this offended them because a maiden is a virgin” and Romero “couldn't see how that was bad.”
Benedict cited five reports and studies that encourage an end to the use of Indians as mascots, including a report by the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee of the NCAA.
It said, in part, “The reasons identified Š for discontinuing use of Native American mascots included: use creates a hostile environment for Native Americans, as mascots may be hung in effigy or mocked by opposing teams; the mascots give the public a stereotypical and historically incorrect perception of American Indians; the mascots are damaging to young people of all races, as (they) promote stereotypes among all races and affect the self-esteem of Native American children; the mascots are sacrilegious in that they misuse symbols that have religious significance in the Native American culture. Specifically, with regard to the last reason provided, the study indicates the Stanford University band was severely punished for dressing up as nuns and swinging rosaries and chalices at a Notre Dame University game. The study indicates, ‘Opponents of American Indian mascots ask why their religious articles are not so treasured by others.' ”
In making her finding, Benedict dismissed the board's argument that they were following the wishes of the majority of their constituents, students and tribal members.
“I find the use or publication of ‘Chiefs' and ‘Maidens' as mascots distinguishes Native American culture from other cultures,” she said. “That distinction is based on race. The use of such mascots limits the way in which ‘Chiefs' and ‘Maidens' are perceived to a generalized stereotype, rather than portraying the true meaning of Chiefs and Maidens in Native American culture.
“When used as team names or mascots, the terms and images of ‘Chiefs' and ‘Maidens' are reduced to monolithic portrayals that disrespect the complex religious and historical meanings of real and honored figures. The use of feathers, as displayed on the gymnasium floor, trivializes the sacred meaning such feathers have in Native American religious ceremonies. Such names and images teach all students, regardless of race, that stereotyping and trivializing another culture's beliefs is acceptable. As stated by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, ‘Schools have a responsibility to educate their students; they should not use their influence to perpetuate misrepresentations of any culture or people.' ”
If the two sides don't reach an agreement during the conciliatory period, the complaint will be referred to the Hearings Bureau of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, according to Katherine Kountz, Human Rights Bureau chief. That bureau assigns an examiner, conducts a formal hearing and issues a decision on the complaint.
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