As a Native American of Lenape descent who sent two children to Francis D. Raub Middle School in Allentown, I want to thank that school for dropping its “Indian” identity (The Morning Call, Sept. 11).
Some people think it is an honor to memorialize America’s First People that way. But it’s not.
Over 900 school and colleges still have Native Americans as mascots, but the very concept is belittling. The cartoonish caricatures it calls up lead fans to paint themselves red, wave tomahawks and yell fake war cries at sports events.
The no-joke reality is that 1 to 4 million or more indigenous men, women and children were slaughtered by European newcomers, who stole 1.5 billion acres of their land, violating more than 500 treaties along the way.
Today, the over 5 million Natives living in 570 federally recognized nations and tribes or residing unnoticed in cities continue to suffer social and environmental injustice.
Our nation now faces a reckoning regarding its history of racial injustice. If we are to right those wrongs, we must meet the moment by acknowledging the past and acting to heal it. Only then can America hope to achieve its promise of equality for all.