Dear Editor,
As a former board member of the Cavendish Elementary School, and a resident of Proctorsville, I am both angry and sad that the current GMUSD Board voted yesterday to retain their racist mascot. I have a special feeling for American Indians, demeaned by the board’s action.
Years ago I was the assistant director of a small school in Minneapolis for adjudicated Indian youth, one of only three non-Indians at the school. It was an experience I will never forget, learning about the wonderful aspects of Indian life, but also the lasting injuries of hate, prejudice, and small everyday petty slights, like someone moving down the lunch counter so as not to sit too close to an Indian.
The board’s heartless, and even illegal vote this week led to the resignation of two Cavendish members who opposed the continued use of the racist mascot, and a third leaving the meeting in protest. Are we teaching our children it is all right to be openly racist, and to disregard legally-enacted laws of our state?
Sincerely,
Barbara Dickey, Ph.D.
Proctorsville, Vt.