I blame it all on the Washington Redskins.
Well, not on the Redskins, but on those who have tried to make political hay by claiming the team’s name was ethnically insensitive. In spite of attacks by Barack Obama, the ACLU, and even a spokesman from the UN Committee on Indigenous People, team owners have stuck to their guns – the name is staying.
Here in Houston, the HISD, in an effort to appear more enlightened and cosmopolitan than the NFL, decided that the traditional mascot names of four of its schools were inappropriate.
After several months of controversy, the Houston Independent School District has announced new mascots for four HISD schools.
At a press conference yesterday, HISD Superintendant Dr. Terry Grier announced that the Lamar High School Redskins will now be known as the Texans, Welch Middle School Warriors are now the Wolf Pack, and both the Westbury Rebels and Hamilton Indians will henceforward be called the Huskies.
Making these changes is going to cost the district over a quarter of a million dollars for new signs, uniforms, etc.
A local TV station reported that this change to more politically correct mascots brought over four hundred comments on their website. None – not one - of the comments was positive.
As a former Hamilton Indian, and someone who carries at least a small amount of Choctaw blood, I never found the nickname offensive and thought the whole name change thing was ridiculous.
Even more amazing is that with all the possibilities out there the district and its naming committees could only come up with three mascots for four schools.
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