COOKEVILLE, Tennessee — This small university town about 80 miles east of Nashville has joined the legion of other municipalities in the U.S. facing the issue of Native mascots used by school sports teams.
On a pleasant Saturday afternoon, May 1, several dozen demonstrators led by Chiricahua Apache and Sayota Knight marched from the campus of Tennessee Tech University to the Putnam County Courthouse to hold a rally demanding the removal of the mascot name “redskins” by local Algood Middle School from its football and other athletic teams.
On their way to the courthouse, the marchers chanted, “Hey, hey, ho ho, that racist mascot’s got to go,” “No hate in our state,” and “Change the name.”