Rally calls for Cheyenne Mountain High School to keep Indian mascot
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A protest Monday hopes to save Cheyenne Mountain High School's Indian mascot, calling to preserve its history and “educate, not eradicate.”
The rally comes on the same day the Cheyenne Mountain school board is expected to discuss the draft resolution proposing to phase out the controversial mascot by Aug. 1, 2021.
In mid-September, the mascot logo was removed from Cheyenne Mountain High School's sign in front of the school.
Cheyenne Mountain Superintendent Walt Cooper says action won’t be taken at Monday night’s school board work session. The district can’t make official decisions about the resolution until the next Board of Education meeting on Oct. 26.
School board members at Monday night's work session disagreed about how quickly to put the draft resolution to a vote. The community is similarly divided on the mascot change.
Dozens lined the street outside the District 12 Administration building. People in favor of keeping the Indian mascot held signs reading, "80 years of tradition" and "educate, not eradicate." Counter-protesters brought signs reading, "No honor in appropriation" and "Not our mascot."
Erin Ruminksi graduated from Cheyenne Mountain High School in 2017. She showed up Monday in favor of the mascot.
"Cheyenne loves, honors, and respects the Indian name," Ruminski said, reading the sign she held. "And I feel that is true."
Some Native Americans insist the mascot is not honorable.
“They’re ignorant for being here on Indigenous Peoples Day protesting to keep a racist mascot," Kiowa Tribe member Kaya Bohay said.
Its history, including possible consent from local indigenous tribes to use the Indian mascot, is disputed.
"The response from the school usually has been that we have a blessing," Weller Dorff, CMHS junior, said. "However, we have no documented evidence of a blessing either in the school district or from any of the native tribes.”
The earliest the Cheyenne Mountain Board of Education can propose a vote on the resolution is Monday, Oct. 26.
