Matt Remle: Eliminating a 'Redskins' mascot in Washington

On June 24th, the Port Townsend school board formally ended its use of Redskins as its high school mascot. The decision came one year after the Washington State Board of Education (WSBE) passed a resolution calling on Washington state public schools to end the use of Indian mascots.

Last spring, after seeing the momentum the Oregon State Board of Education was having towards the elimination of Indian mascots in its schools, I was inspired to see if we could accomplish something similar in Washington State.

After circulating a petition calling on the WSBE to ban the use of Indian mascots in our public schools, a close friend and I presented the petition to board members. Following our presentation, board member Bernal Baca approached and thanked us for the presentation. Baca, who had been active with both American Indian Movement and Latino rights issues in the 60’s and 70’s, told us that if we drafted him a resolution he would bring it to vote at an upcoming WSBE meeting.

Months later the resolution passed the WSBE unanimously.