A North Dakota-based organization this week sued Colorado for banning American Indian school mascots, arguing the state shouldn’t outlaw culturally-sensitive uses of Native American names and imagery.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court by the nonprofit Native American Guardian’s Association, names several Colorado officials, including Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Kathryn Redhorse, the executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs.
The suit alleges SB21-116, which was signed into law in June, is discriminatory and unconstitutional. Other plaintiffs include a John Doe and Jane Doe, and three others who cite Native heritage in the lawsuit: Demetrius Marez, a Lamar High School alumnus; Chase Aubrey Roubideaux, a Yuma High School alumnus; and Donald Wayne Smith Jr., a pastor at Yuma Christian Church and former teacher.
“Plaintiffs oppose the use of American Indian mascot performers and caricatures that mock Native American heritage — such as Lamar High School’s former mascot Chief UghLee or the Atlanta Braves’ former Native American caricature Chief Noc-A-Homa — in sports and other public venues,” the lawsuit states. “Nevertheless, culturally appropriate Native American names, logos and imagery serve to honor Native Americans, and to help public schools neutralize offensive and stereotypical Native American caricatures and iconography, while teaching students and the general public about American Indian history.”
Polis’s office declined to comment Wednesday.
Backers of SB21-116 have said the mascots and names are denigrating and humiliating, and research has shown that this type of imagery negatively affects all students, not just American Indians. The American Psychological Association called for these types of mascots to be retired in 2005.
In a written statement, NAGA Board Member Eunice Davidson Wicanhpiwastewin (Good Star Woman) said that SB21-116 discriminates against the plaintiffs “by conferring benefits on non-Native American bystanders who are not the targets of racism and discrimination with regard to Native American names, logos and imagery. One of NAGA’s primary goals is to partner with school districts to reappropriate Native American names as honorifics in order to reclaim their meaning and to teach non-Native American students about Native American history.”
The issue is not new to Colorado. In 2015, then-Gov. John Hickenlooper formed the Commission to Study American Indian Representations in Public Schools and it recommended Native American mascots be removed unless the schools came to agreements with federally-recognized tribes. The commission cited misrepresentation and stereotypes perpetuated by the imagery.
However, only a handful of schools made changes to their mascots or sought agreements with tribes between the time of the recommendations and the bill’s passage. Previous attempts to pass bills like SB21-116 were unsuccessful until this year.
As of July, about 25 schools in Colorado had Native American mascots that had to be changed by June 1, 2022, or they could face monthly fines of $25,000. An exception was made for schools that had existing agreements with tribes — Strasburg and Arapahoe high schools have such agreements.
Some schools started working on new mascots as the bill made its way through the legislature, but others, such as the Lamar Savages (which uses Native American imagery), had not. The school board decided to hold off until January to make any changes, awaiting a potential lawsuit outcome, according to the Lamar Ledger.
Darius Smith, who is Navajo and served on the governor’s commission, has been working on the issue of removing American Indian mascots in Colorado for more than 30 years. He said that while NAGA purports to speak for the “silenced majority” of Native Americans, it does not have credibility or represent the way many American Indians feel about the issue.
“A lot of the studies and the research was also being twisted,” Smith said. “Initially, the NFL team in Washington was trying to gain support from organizations and so-called tribes so they could keep their mascot, which they only got rid of recently.” And Smith said that is the same approach this group is taking.
“But there’s really good reputable research and study at universities by organizations that tell the truth rather than the fly-by-night organizations,” he said.
NAGA is challenging SB21-116’s constitutionality because it bans all American Indian names and imagery (and lumps them all under the term “mascot,” the lawsuit states) but does not do this for other groups, said attorney William Trachman, of Lakewood-based Mountain States Legal Foundation. Trachman formerly worked in the Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Education under former President Donald Trump.
In addition to seeking equal treatment to people of other races, citing the Fourteenth Amendment, the lawsuit alleges a violation of First Amendment rights because it would not allow schools to use names or images that are respectful or honor Natives Americans. The group says its goal is to “educate, not eradicate.”
NAGA is known for filing lawsuits across the country against such bans or name changes, advocating for more education and recognition of their heritage, according to the organization’s website. The site features a video from conservative group Turning Point USA denouncing socialism and its effects on American Indians.
The group previously has come under fire over its membership and potential ties to organizations like the NFL’s Washington Football Team, which NAGA believes should have kept its Redskins name and mascot.
