Dartmouth voters will be asked tomorrow to consider the fate of the town’s Native American school symbol, or mascot, the Indian.
The ballot question is nonbinding, but it will help the School Committee gauge public opinion, Town Clerk Sarah Haskell Arruda said.
“There's been lots of people for and against changing it, so the Select Board had decided that they would open it up to the entire town,” she said.
Dartmouth High School athletic teams use the name “Indians” and a logo that depicts a Native American man’s head in profile.
The issue in Dartmouth has been complicated by the fact that some — though not all — members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe support the “Dartmouth Indians” name and logo. One of those members, Clyde Andrews, says he designed the logo.
At a time when the Legislature is considering bills to ban Native American school mascots, and some other schools, including Barnstable, have replaced theirs, people who support the “Dartmouth Indian” contend that it’s not a mascot at all, but a symbol of history and pride.
Members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe, other southeastern Massachusetts tribes, and the New Bedford branch of the NAACP have spoken against the symbol. They say using Native Americans as mascots harms Native youth, and that the issue is larger than Dartmouth.
Haskell Arruda said people on both sides are trying to be sensitive to the issue.
“People want to make sure that they're being conscious of how the Native American is being portrayed, and not in … a negative or derogatory manner,” she said.
She said the debate also presents an opportunity for more education on these issues in the public schools.
Barnstable dropped the name "Red Raiders" and a Native American logo in 2020 and replaced it with "Redhawks" the following year.