Group of students, staff, parents to discuss hot-button issue
Telegram & Gazette
The use of Native American imagery and symbols by Massachusetts high school athletic teams has been a contentious and continuing issue since at least the late 1990s with change occurring at a glacial pace.
But dramatic and meaningful progress for those who believe such imagery is racially and culturally insensitive has been made the past six months, an offshoot of an energized social justice movement that began in the summer.
Here in Central Mass., it’s led to Nashoba Regional ditching Chieftains for a yet-to-be-determined mascot in July, Grafton switching from Indians to Gators in November, and North Brookfield dropping Indians, Athol dumping Red Raiders and Algonquin forming a study group to review its Tomahawks nickname in December.