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Article: Fighting Words: The School Mascot Debate.(Native Americans find school symbol demeaning)
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- March 19, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A PEP RALLY IS AN EXCITING event at Erwin High School in Asheville, N.C. As a student dressed in feathered headdress rushes onto the gym floor, students cheer and shout "scalp 'em!"
Not everyone has been cheering, though. Some people say the school's mascots, the Warrior and the Squaw, are symbols that demean Native Americans. They want the school to do away with the mascots and team names. The U.S. Department of Justice is even investigating to see whether the school is violating the civil rights of Native American students by using the mascots.
Some people, however, want to keep the mascots that have represented Erwin High for more than 40 years. They ...