As the Gill-Montague Regional School Committee continues to work toward a decision on whether to continue using Indians as its team nickname, a teaching moment has emerged from the recent Thanksgiving Day football game.
Since the fall, the School Committee has been taking steps to guide its decision— from airing public sentiment at hearings to gathering relevant historical and cultural information from local experts.
While this process is an important one, it has also provided a public stage for conflict between those who see the Indians nickname evoking respect and school pride and others who say it is hurtful and insensitive to Native Americans. Into this heated but generally civil debate, a headdress and the “Tomahawk Chop” made an appearance during the game between Turners Falls and longtime rival, Greenfield.
Both the headdress and the “chop” have been used in the past as ways to invigorate the team and fans. But in 2009, after agonizing over many of the same cultural sensitivity arguments heard today, the School Committee in 2009 banned use of the chop and related chant by the band and cheerleaders, and according to a Recorder story at the time by “any school-sponsored group. A vote to ban the use of other symbolism, such as the headdress, failed to get the necessary support.
This Thanksgiving, the headdress was worn at times during the game, mostly by the team’s water boys. Whoever thought it was a good idea to bring it to the game either didn’t recognize that it could be perceived as a slap in the face of those who think the school’s nickname should change — or was deliberately trying to turn up the heat.
When it came football team members using the chop to invigorate the crowd, the decision sent a message, intentional or not, about where the players stand on the issue. It also violated the school policy, of which they may not have been aware. (The prohibition hasn’t been included in the student handbook or athletic conduct guideline.)
Recorder sports columnist Jay Butynski wrote Tuesday that head coach Chris Lapointe was unaware of the team’s decision to use the chop when leaving the locker room for the second half of the game. Once he saw what was happening, he stopped it.
If it was a decision made by the players alone — as the team’s quarterback, senior Tionne Brown, says — it may have stemmed from lack of forethought and sensitivity. That’s not exactly surprising when dealing with teenagers pumped up in the midst of a game.
All this may have factored into Superintendent Michael Sullivan’s deciding that no team or staff members should be punished.
But athletes, fans and the rest of the community should recognize such behavior is seen as “insensitive, offensive and provocative” and counterproductive to the “tone of civility, respect, growth and open dialogue during this challenging process,” as Sullivan wrote in a response to the incident. Civility and respect also were issues cited seven years ago when the chop was banned.
That counterproductive behavior, though, isn’t limited
to just this incident. It can be found in the way some people on both sides have expressed themselves over this issue, particularly through insults hurled via social media.
If the lesson from the Turkey Day chop is for athletes
and fans to be more understanding and sensitive to others, then the same thinking should extend to all aspects
of this issue.