Should the mascot ‘Chiefs’ stay for Canton HS

Should the mascot ‘Chiefs’ stay for Canton HS

Delaney Fillman

Sophie Jeffers, a Salem student and a member of the Canton High School Congress, during the February 9th board meeting brought up the potential mascot change because the name was disrespectful and brought distraught to the Native Americans. During the meeting, Sophie Jeffers presented the idea to change the mascot and logo of the canton chiefs. She states that the current mascot isn’t culturally appropriate anymore and that 8 out of 12 federally recognized tribes find the name demeaning and condemn the use of it. 7th grader Charlotte Andrews, who will be attending Canton in high school, states “I feel like its been chiefs for so long it would be weird to have it change, but other hand, things named chiefs have been changing so I guess it would be smart”, Charlotte also states “The logo is a bit of a problem, the chiefs could just be a leader, so instead the district could have a Native American tribe design a new one,” A bunch of other things that have the name or are designed to look like a  ‘Chief’ or any Native American attached to them is changing. In previous years, the Washington football team was the Washington Redskins, which was an inappropriate and racist word for Native Americans. There is also the example of the Cleveland Indians, which didn’t change their name but changed their mascot because of the rude logo of an Indian.