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OKEMOS Okemos student-athletes will no longer compete as the Chiefs after district leaders cast a vote 30 years in the making.
The Okemos Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to stop using the Chiefs nickname, which an increasing number of students, alumni and residents say is an offensive caricature of indigenous people.
The board hopes to adopt a new mascot by 2024.
The decision comes after decades of discussion surrounding Okemos Public Schools moniker, which was picked for the town of Okemos namesake, Chief Okemos.
Superintendent John Hood was the most recent district leader to consider a name change for the district late last year. But discussions surrounding the nickname and mascot date at least to the mid-1990s, when Katie Cavanaugh, secretary for the Board of Education, was an Okemos High School student.
View Comments
OKEMOS Okemos student-athletes will no longer compete as the Chiefs after district leaders cast a vote 30 years in the making.
The Okemos Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to stop using the Chiefs nickname, which an increasing number of students, alumni and residents say is an offensive caricature of indigenous people.
The board hopes to adopt a new mascot by 2023.
The decision comes after decades of discussion surrounding Okemos Public Schools moniker, which was picked for the town of Okemos namesake, Chief Okemos.
Superintendent John Hood was the most recent district leader to consider a name change late last year. But discussions surrounding the nickname and mascot date at least to the mid-1990s, when Katie Cavanaugh, secretary for the Board of Education, was an Okemos High School student.
Armed protest in Columbus on Sunday was peaceful
Courtesy of Jake Zuckerman.
and last updated 2021-01-18 09:38:44-05
COLUMBUS, Ohio â The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
A cohort of armed men stood at the Statehouse steps calling for unity.
A conspiracy theorist with a megaphone yelled about dangerous vaccines, 9/11 and the 2020 election.
A Black Lives Matter activist simply waved a flag in celebration of the looming inauguration of a new president.
The entire Sunday crowd of roughly 100 stood, braving a sometimes-heavy snowfall, outside a Statehouse fortified with Humvees, National Guardsmen, and police barriers.