TURNERS FALLS — More than 100 members of the public gathered Tuesday night to express opinions and show support for their respective sides during the first school board open forum on the Turners Falls High School Indian mascot.
The meeting was at times tense, but mostly cordial between those who wanted to keep and those who wanted to get rid of the school’s mascot. It has come under fire in recent months by some area residents.
The school board passed a review process in late September, and these forums are the first part of the process.
Tuesday’s forum, which included those who spoke on both sides of the issue and several who were neutral, ran two hours. The next forum will be on Nov. 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Turners Falls High School auditorium. The meeting will be streamed live on Montague TV. Educational forums, which will be open to the public, will also be scheduled in the coming months.
Gill-Montague School Committee Chairman Mike Langknecht mediated the event. All members of the committee were in attendance, taking notes and listening to all perspectives.
“We are not here tonight to change anyone’s opinion, we are here to learn your opinions,” he said.
Unlike the first committee meeting on the review process, booing and interruptions were seldom. Amalia FourHawks, one of the first speakers who wanted to change the mascot, said many Native Americans involved in the issue are not honored by the team’s name. FourHawks was one of several on both sides of the issue that called for more education about local Native American culture in the school district.
“Respect and honor your own children by teaching them what is right,” she said. “That all people are people.”
Three current students also spoke at the forum, all calling for the committee to keep the current mascot.
The youngest speaker was a seventh-grader Emily Young, who circulated a petition around her school and had over 100 signatures. She said the students feel pride in the name.
Lew Collins, who operates Turners Falls sports bar Between the Uprights, also spoke in favor of keeping the current mascot. He said that about two dozen other schools in Massachusetts have Native American-related mascots and that Turners Falls is not the only school with this kind of a mascot.
“Why Turners Falls?” he asked.
Collins said the high school should not be singled out because of the history of the area, which is separate than the history of the high school. “If it offends you here, it has to offend you everywhere else,” he said.
Brenda Silva, an Erving resident, said that while she no longer has children in the district, her tax money still supports the schools, and those who live and pay taxes in the towns that feed into the high school should be making this decision.
“This shouldn’t be made by outsiders. This shouldn’t be made by a committee,” she said. “This decision should be made by the people who pay to support this school.”
Rich Hall, a parent of two children at the school, said he wasn’t aware of the mascot until he heard the students chanting “Go Indians!” at the first football game of the season. He said he wasn’t expecting it and it made his skin crawl.
“People aren’t mascots,” he said to the crowd on Tuesday. “People are people. To take someone’s culture and to turn it into a logo, I think it’s very demeaning.”
Overall, several who spoke about changing it seemed optimistic about what they said was Turners Falls being on the right side of this in the long run.
Kara McLaughlin advocated for changing it and said to do so wouldn’t take away the pride many associate with the school and its athletic feats.
“We shouldn’t have to have a mascot that some people feel bad about,” she said. “It’s silly. We should have a mascot everyone can feel good about.”
Kathy Lynch, one of the last speakers of the night, agreed. She said the school community should find a way to move past this.
“Once it’s done, we can focus on something that really matters, which is how hard Greenfield is going to get their a– kicked this year,” she said.
The crowd — on both sides of the discussion — could be seen smiling and heard laughing. a moment of brevity after a serious night.
Reach Miranda Davis at 413-772-0261 ext. 280 or mdavis@recorder.com.