Letter: Algonquin Regional tomahawk mascot not racist
Telegram & Gazette
High schools all over Massachusetts are choosing to replace their names and mascots as well as the legacies they contain due to their “racist implications.”
Since 1959, Algonquin Regional High School has been associated with their mascot – the tomahawk. At the end of April, the school board unanimously voted to change this out of the belief that this mascot is insensitive to the Algonquin tribe that the school was initially named after.
The logic behind the racist implications of the tomahawk doesn’t work out because a tomahawk is simply a tool this group of Native Americans invented. By coordinating a tomahawk as the Algonquin mascot it’s not only opposing racism by implementing part of Native American culture into modern times, but also creating a lasting legacy for the Algonquin tribe by means of a school.