Rachel Corcoran-Adams, a Hall High School senior, said she stopped 15 freshman from buying the shirts on Friday during school hours. She said she feels her battle against the Native American imagery is like "David and Goliath," and has heard that Native Americans have spoken out about the issue and are "disgusted with the school and students."

Conard's Chieftain and Hall's Warrior mascots have historically been represented by Native American imagery, but in March 2015, the board of education recommended that use of all Native American mascots and imagery be discontinued. While the town kept the team names, the 2016-17 school year started with new logos.

"The (old) logo and fan section name puts Native Americans at the same level as animal mascots," she said. "It is downright dehumanizing. It is hypocritical of us to mock their culture through mascots after we banned them from practicing their culture during westernization."

The move to change the logos was part of a national push in recent decades to do away with certain Native American team names and mascots considered disparaging and racist.

As early as 1968 the National Congress of American Indians was calling for the elimination of Indian mascots and by 2001 the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights had made a similar call. The NCAA prohibits some Native American logos in post-season events.

Hall High School parent Paul Henning said his daughter was "dejected and disappointed" when she told him that students were wearing T-shirts featuring the old Indian head mascot with the words, "The Rez," short for "The Reservation," a pep club.

"My feeling is that school spirit is bigger than any one symbol or logo," Henning said. "If you can't get behind a new logo than something is wrong with your school spirit."

Henning said the schools have a dress code, and he hopes the district will enforce a ban on students wearing the shirts.

Students have maintained The Reservation pep club at Hall High School, and one called "The Tribe" at Conard, which are not school-sanctioned. At the start of this school year, Conard students changed the name of "The Tribe" to "The Red C," which is school-sanctioned.

In August, school board Chairman Mark Overmyer-Velazquez said the schools can't legally order the student-led clubs to stop using the names.

Overmyer-Velazquez said this isn't a resurgence of the logo issue, just a small minority of students who have decided to "distract the community," he said.

"I, for one, and I imagine my colleagues, have no interest in reopening this conversation. I don't think it will go that way and I think the students will do the right thing and move past this," he said. "This is yet again another reminder of the need to be vigilant as community leaders and community residents that racist, offensive, exclusionary and discriminatory practices exist in our society."

Andrew Morrow, assistant superintendent for administration, said in a statement that the district requires all school-sanctioned and school-funded clubs and organizations to respect diverse cultural values and the importance of inclusion.

"Unfortunately, a small number of students have chosen to selfishly seek attention by deliberately continuing to promote an unofficial student group with a name and imagery that is inappropriate and racially insensitive," he said in the statement. "This attention-seeking behavior is deliberately designed to provoke the larger student body and the community. These students do not represent our schools and the overwhelming majority of our caring and compassionate students."

Talia Feldman, a senior and Hall's student association treasurer, said the fight against "The Rez" supporters has turned vicious online and students are valuing a racist tradition over morality. She said it's time the student body swallows its pride and opens its eyes to the rightful anger of others, whose lives and experiences have been mocked by logos and group names like Hall's.

Conard student council co-president Brian Wilson said Conard Tribe T-shirts had not yet been printed, but the fan section had posted designs of a new shirt with Native American imagery and the words, "Return of the tribe." He said there is a movement in place for the pep club to disassociate itself with the school and change its name back.

"I am on the side of keeping the Chieftain. However, I respect the [school board's] new policy and the compromise," Wilson said. "Even though I may like the design, and the majority of students do like the design, we just need to be respectful of compromise and the change. You may not like it, but it's the way it is."

In a letter to the student body Friday morning, Wilson and co-president Mamata Malla asked students to think about their actions and prove to the school board that they "can respect the privilege of being called Chieftains.

"The problem is this: If we violate the policy, there is a strong possibility the Board of Education will ban the Chieftain name," the students wrote. "With a tradition that goes back to the 1950s, we would be remiss to have the Chieftain name taken away."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3112695&forum_id=2#29713970)

oh it is

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3112695&forum_id=2#29714035)

A poor, beleaguered, long-suffering tribe has its symbols stolen by a person of privilege. Sound familiar, hmmmmmm?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3112695&forum_id=2#29714057)

How could this be anything other than appropriation of Jewish culture?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3112695&forum_id=2#29734024)