Lorén Spears, executive director, Tomaquag Indigenous Museum Ponaganset High School is embroiled in a skirmish over its use of a Native American mascot, the chieftain. Although the number of such mascots has been declining over the years, more than 1,200 schools still use indigenous names and images such as "chiefs," "redskins" and "warriors," according to fivethirtyeight.com. Last year the Washington Redskins NFL team dropped its nickname in the wake of racial justice protests in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The discussion over the Ponaganset mascot, a chieftain in full headdress, surfaced last summer during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests that roiled cities large and small. Members of the Nipmuc tribe in northern Rhode Island contacted the Rhode Island Commission on Prejudice and Bias, a public body established by the legislature, to begin a conversation with the regional school committee.