All the meetings the Gill-Montague Regional School Committee is having about the Turners Falls mascot are nothing but smoke and mirrors to cover up the fact that its mind is already made up. As soon as someone complained the mascot was racist, it was done. Everything now is just a waste of time. The committee is already asking for replacement mascots. If its mind is not made up, isn’t it premature to be asking for replacements?

I played a couple of sports years ago, so I am a Turners Falls Indian. I worked on the yearbook, the Peske Tuk —an Indian name. I worked on the newspaper the Netop — an Indian greeting. Now I find that all of that is demeaning and derogatory toward Native Americans, according to PC standards. I was and, apparently still am, a racist because I support keeping the mascot. Imagine being in your 70s, proud of your school and its mascot and discovering that you are a racist and apparently have been a closet racist all these years. What do I do with my T.F. blanket with the Indian head on it? If I have it in my garage and someone with a dollop of Indian blood in them sees it and, becomes afraid, I’ll be before some PC commission. What do I do with some of my movies and works of literature like “Deerslayer,” “Last of the Mohicans,” “Drums Along the Mohawk,” “Boy Captive of Old Deerfield,” etc.? Do I destroy them, never watch or read them again, not let anyone know I have them so I won’t be branded a bigger racist than I apparently am?

It’s amazing that the logo has been around longer than the members of the School Committee, the superintendent and most if not all of the people calling for a change. I know it’s been there longer than I’ve been alive.

Most mascots are chosen because the mascot represents certain qualities, usually strength, fighting spirit, etc. — panthers, eagles, hawks, gators, warriors, Patriots, Minutemen, etc. I believe the same is true for the Indian mascot. Indians, here and everywhere, were and are some of the proudest, hardest fighting people ever. That’s the spirit of an Indian, and that’s what the logo represents to Turners.

Joe Dlugosz

T.F. Class of ‘61

Greenfield