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11/13/2019 07:00 AM

Make the Necessary Changes


I am a shoreline resident and alumnus of the local Valley Regional High School. For several years now, Valley Regional High School has used a racially and culturally offensive depiction of an indigenous person as its athletics logo, along with a team name, Warriors, that is an unfair appropriation of indigenous culture. The National Congress of American Indians has called for an end to the usage of Native American culture in domestic advertising, and it is in this vein that I am currently petitioning the local Board of Education to make the necessary changes.

In the interest of gathering support, the petition can be found online at change.org (chng.it/5XdYRZ2H). I am contacting you to bring attention to the petition, and to the situation at our local school. The mascot and Indian head logo is actually a duplicate of that of the Washington Redskins NFL team, which has been under constant pressure from indigenous persons to change its offensive advertising.

Valley’s mascot is a representative injustice to the history and heritage of Native Americans in Connecticut. It blatantly disrespects them in a place of education, and it should not continue to represent our school. I am looking for additional means to spread the word and garner support to right this wrong.

Gabriel Léger

Essex