Goodbye, Shawnee Mission North Indians. Here is the high school’s new mascot
Shawnee Mission North High School will no longer be home of the Indians as it retires the nearly century-old mascot that has drawn widespread criticism this past year.
This week, the school announced its new mascot: the Bison.
In January, the Shawnee Mission school board unanimously agreed that Shawnee Mission North and three district elementary schools must remove their “Indians” and “Braves” mascots. Thousands of residents petitioned for the change, arguing that the Native American mascots are racist and degrading.
Under the district’s new policy, school mascots must be culturally and racially appropriate, and they may not be derogatory or offensive toward a person or class of people protected under the district’s nondiscrimination policy.
Several Shawnee Mission North graduates and activists in Johnson County celebrated the announcement this week.
“This is the end of a long battle,” Hunter Hawkins, a North graduate who fought for the change, wrote on Facebook. He wore Native American-inspired regalia and a feather headdress as the school’s mascot costume in 2013.
North graduate Dave Jorgenson, well known as The Washington Post’s TikTok producer, also celebrated the change on Twitter.
“So proud of my high school and all the students and alum who demanded a change,” he wrote on Twitter. “No longer the Indians. Now the Bison!”
Under Shawnee Mission’s new policy, Belinder, Shawanoe and Rushton elementary schools must also change their mascots. This week, the district announced the new monikers: Belinder Bears, Rushton Red-Tailed Hawks and Shawanoe Bison.
Shawnee Mission North students, administrators and staff spent months deciding on a new mascot, putting the final decision to a vote.
But it will be a while before the Bison decorates the high school’s halls.
Changing any mascot could be expensive, requiring new signs, uniforms and branding. Superintendent Mike Fulton has said the district will have to determine the cost of the transition at each school.
According to the Shawnee Mission North website, the Indians mascot will likely be officially retired in June. Next school year, officials will work on new branding, logos, uniforms and signs. Some items might still have Indians branding on them until next summer, when the school expects the new mascot to be fully implemented.
More than 4,800 people have signed a Change.org petition urging the district to remove the Shawnee Mission North Indians mascot by the school’s 100th anniversary in 2022.
This past winter, Ben Barnes, chief of the Shawnee Tribe, pleaded with the school board to make the change.
“People are not mascots. We do not accept this,” he said at the time. “You do not honor us by putting this on your jackets. You do not honor us by putting us on your diplomas. We are not caricatures. We are real people, with cultures, religions and opinions.”
Organizations and schools are removing Native American mascots as the country comes to terms with how it has glamorized its history of colonization and mistreatment of Indigenous people.
Research has shown that the use of Indian mascots can increase suicidal thoughts and depression among Indigenous people. One study — conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, University of Arizona and Stanford University — found that when Native American teens are exposed to such mascots, it decreases their community worth and self-esteem.
In recent years, Shawnee Mission North stopped its practice of the Indian chief mascot wearing a headdress, and the girl playing a Native American princess kneeling before him in pre-game ceremonies. Other schools have made changes, too. At Belinder Elementary, the PTA stopped using Native American imagery in spirit wear and other merchandise.
And last November, Nieman Elementary students voted to change their mascot from the Indians to the Foxes.
Advocates also are pushing for the district to add new curriculum that better reflects the experiences of Indigenous people.
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 12:59 PM.
