She glared as if hed broken wind in a church pew, somewhere between Give us this day and our daily bread. Blake Mundells wake-up call crept up from behind during his freshman year of college and conked him on the back of the head.

When youre on your own for the first time, doing your own laundry, some T-shirts survive the rotation better than others. For Mundell, a native of Lamar whod entered Belmont University in Nashville during the fall of 2007, that rotation included a shirt from his high school that showcased the head of a Native American man in full orange headdress, next to the words SAVAGE BASEBALL.

Mundell wore the thing to class a few times, and while on a community service trip in the autumn. Hed thought nothing of it.

That is, until while on said trip, a female friend a Native American and fellow undergrad shot him a look that landed like a baby grand dropped from 16 stories up.

As soon as I wore that (shirt), this friend had made a comment about it, Mundell recalled. And then they just distanced themselves. And I could not figure out why.

For months, nothing. Then one day, that next spring, this friend ambled up and told him exactly why.

(She) got the courage to say how much just wearing that shirt with the image of an American Indian in headdress with the white face had hurt, Mundell said.

And in the face of this persons actual pain was when I said, I need to re-evaluate all of this. That was the catalyst.

***

Its 2020. Time to bury the hatchets, dont you think?

And the teepees. And the war paint. And the headdresses. And the stereotypes.

If Washingtons NFL team figures its no longer cool to be called The Redskins, then why does Lamar High School think that combining caricatures of indigenous people, human beings, with the term Savages is somehow above reproach?

Honestly, it makes it hard for me to proud of the town that I grew up in, explained Stephanie Davis, a Denverite who graduated from Lamar High in 2006. I spent 18 years of my life there and its not something that I can talk proudly about with friends or colleagues.

Whenever I think about my high school, thats what I think about. I think about the mascot. I think about how it portrays Native Americans in the community its a pretty formative part of who I am. It comes with a lot of freedom that kids in cities dont have. But I think it also comes with the (idea) of taking pride a little bit too far.

Davis and Mundell, Class of 07, want that pride back. Theyve grown weary of the apologies, the excuses, the blind eyes and the provincialism. Well, thats the way its always been, as a base defense, has rarely justified anything worth keeping.

According to the Commission to Study American Indian Representation In Public Schools, created via executive order by then-Gov. John Hickenlooper in October 2015, 11 Colorado public high schools featured Native American mascots or imagery during the 2015-16 school year. A search of the MascotDB.com database, which tracks nickname usage across all organized U.S sports circuits, shows that nine high schools maintain the name Indians, while four utilize Warriors with either Native American connotations or mascots attached.

Eaton Highs Reds feature an American Indian caricature as part of its branding, even on T-shirts aimed at kids. Le Vetas Redskins, same deal. Start em young.

Generally, when alumni come back like this and try to have this conversation, Mundell said by phone from greater Nashville, were usually met with, Well, youre an outsider now.

Theyre going to try and push that boulder up the hill anyway. Mundell and Davis formed an alumni group this summer with other Lamar alumni who see a school, and a community, that looks more out of step with each passing year. The group is slated to make a remote presentation to the school board early Monday afternoon.

We anticipate sort of being blown off, Mundell said. But this is the first step. We know that often, whenever anyone perceived as an outside source (steps in), folks in the past have dug their heels in even further.

Savage isnt just a nickname for Lamar, a southeastern Colorado community 50 miles west of the Kansas border its a state of mind, a badge of honor. Its part of the fabric, part of why a town with an estimated population of 7,665 boasts a high school thats won 20 state championships, eight of them in baseball and another five in girls basketball.

Lamars done this dance before, and the locals have pushed back every time. In February 2016, Darius Smith, director of the Denver Anti-Discrimination Office, made a presentation to community stakeholders, one of four stops on his tour as a part of Hickenloopers commission on American Indian representation.

It was different (from the other stops) because they had security personnel, Smith recalled. There were a lot of old-timers, alumni of the school, who were saying, Im proud to be a Savage. It was like they were reading from a script they would either start or end with, Im proud to be a Savage. We were on the panel, looking up, like, What?

Smith gets it. Mundell and Davis grew up with it. To generations in Prowers County, Savage is a compliment, representative of Lamars collective town spirit, emblematic of a community that never quits.

In that case, why not keep that nickname, embrace that mantra, and honor it with, say, a bear? A beast? A cryptid or a force of nature that represents those qualities, as opposed to again a race of human beings?

Its not the ideal.

Its the emblem.

The Board of Education had recently received communication from alumni and community members opposing the mascot as well as those that support the mascot, the Lamar school board said in a statement emailed by superintendent Dave Tecklenburg. As you likely know, this topic has been heavily debated within our district several times throughout the years.

***

Mundell and Davis suspect theyll be asked about the timing especially given the economic fallout from a pandemic that hasnt let up and potential costs. Rebranding, even for a just cause, doesnt come cheap.

There are people that have said, Why are they bringing this up now? There are more important things to be brought up, Mundell said. Theres always going to be something more important than this. And absolutely, money is a big thing.

He estimates a logo change would require a minimum investment of $125,000 to $150,000 for a school of Lamars size. To defray those costs, hes reached out to business contacts, sounding out some within the Tennessee Titans organization, as well as chums inside the Nike corporate chain.

If money is the biggest hurdle, we can do that, we can make that happen, said Mundell, whose father, Joe, taught and coached in Lamar for more than three decades. We can find a way to manage that. And I truly believe that.

Mutual of Omaha is moving away from Native American imagery that defined its corporate logo. Land OLakes is retiring its butter maiden after nearly a century of use. Even Washington owner Dan Snyder was forced to tap out, eventually. And the MLB franchise in Cleveland is expected to do the same.

I think the climate has changed, Smith said. People are getting frustrated with our society right now. And I think its an opportunity for Lamar to correct a wrong.

Its not political correctness.

Its common sense.

Its going back to your college pal, the one whose gaze shot a dagger through your heart, and asking for another chance.

I said, Hey, I apologize, Mundell recalled. And I told her I wasnt going to wear that apparel anymore.

Were still friends.

If she can forgive, then history can, too. Because the longer you choose to stay on that island, putting pride before progress, refusing a path forward, the lonelier youre going to be.

See the original post:

Keeler: If Washington can bury the Redskins name, why is Lamar still standing by its Savages? - The Denver Post