ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150010
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: LETTERS
Public schools are the public's business.
The Facilities Committee recommended and the Montgomery County School Board approved a site for a new Blacksburg Middle School (likely found outside of downtown). Then the idea emerged to develop and present a series of public forums on the impact of moving the present Blacksburg Middle School from downtown Blacksburg. The process is continuing.
Public resources should be invested in better learning systems, with focus on human capital rather than water and sewer lines, etc. The present site will accommodate expansion. Demolishing the present main building may not be the best way to go. Build a new one on the publicly owned site and then renovate the old.
I am engaging in a positive effort to create awareness and to enable the public to be better informed about issues of costs and benefits so our money might be more wisely invested.
John Cain
Blacksburg
[Editor's note: Cain is funding a series of community forums on the school site issue.]
School names are inappropriate
We want to provoke a community response to the names of the Blacksburg Middle and High School sports teams: the Indians and the Braves. My children attend middle and high school in Blacksburg. These names send an inappropriate message to impressionable minds.
The issue has been raised in the past with regard to the Atlanta Braves, Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles, as well as other high school teams. It includes the use of team mascots and pep gestures like the Indian Chant and the Tomahawk Chop.
We hope most people here do not support perpetuation of these attitudes.
The usual argument for resisting change is that the names are meant not to insult but to honor native people. It is just "good, clean fun". If this is a sincere argument, how about a team called the Honkies?
Why are non-Indian examples unacceptable? Could it be that in contrast to the other groups at issue, Native Americans are (falsely) perceived as being too few and therefore too weak to defend themselves against racist acts?
Fortunately, changes are afoot. Stanford University dropped the name Indians, without ill effects. The local newspaper in Portland, Ore., decided that its policy prohibiting racial epithets should include derogatory team names. So, the Redskins are referred to as "the Washington team".
The U.S. Native American population was reduced from 12.5 million in 1500 to fewer than 250,000 at the beginning of the 20th century through a clear but informal state policy. In popular print media and novels, Native Americans were made to appear grotesque, menacing and inhuman. The treatment of Indians in U.S. popular culture is not just "good, clean fun". It causes pain and suffering to real people. We can insist that these practices are stopped now.
We want to push for constructive change. If Blacksburg is a well-educated and (relatively) non-racist community, then we ought to muster plenty of citizen support to make this change. Let's begin a campaign to change the team names from the Indians and the Braves to something that gives positive messages to our children without dehumanizing human beings.
Nandini Assar
Blacksburg
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB