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CHIEFS CONTROVERSY
STUDENTS DISCUSS ISSUES WITH SPORTS TEAMS’ NAMES
With the Kansas City Chiefs winning the 54th Super Bowl, the controversial question has arisen again: is it acceptable for the Chiefs to keep their Native American title? While the Chiefs have changed the mascot as of 1989 to K. C. Wolf, this still does not erase the past use and current use of Native Americans in team names. According to the National Congress of American Indians, rather than honoring Native people, these stereotypes within the sports teams are harmful of America’s first people and contribute to the dehumanization of the Native population. Junior Cayelle Fitzgerald finds the sports teams and mascots to be offensive and unnecessary. “Sports teams using Native American mascots is stereotypical and incredibly offensive.” Fitzgerald said. “There is nothing prideful with mocking a whole race. It just makes said sports team look ignorant.” The Kansas City Chiefs are not the only team with a questionable mascot or title. According to adl.org, there are currently fewer than 1000 college, high school and professional teams that use Native Americans to represent their team, including the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians. While that is a much smaller number from the more than 3000 teams, it is still having an impact on Cleveland Indians Washington Redskins Kansas City Chiefs Atlanta Braves Chicago Blackhawks
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the Native American community. Additionally, according to a study done by UC Berkeley, 57 percent of those who identify with being Native American and 67 percent of those who engage in tribal cultural practices were discovered to be offended by uses of Native American mascots. In 2017, solutions to these controversial issues arose when California became the first state to ban the use of the word “Redskins” in any public school team name or mascot. After this, other states followed with similar laws, such as Maine in 2019. Some argue that this change is not necessary including sophomore Drew Berry. “I do not think it is offensive, I think it is more a compliment,” Berry said. “Native Americans should not be ashamed of this because being a chief is being a leader.” While some sports teams’ names have not been revised, changes are still happening around the country. More information on this topic can be found on ncai.org. Story by Elizabeth Moodispaugh and Katelynn Penrod.
RECOGNITION, CELEBRATIONS SET TONE FOR BOYS BASKETBALL CARMEL WIN
Senior girls basketball player Sydney Parrish recieved her jersey at halftime for being selected as a McDonald’s All-American Athlete for 2019- 20. Parrish became the all-time leading scorer in HSE basketball history after scoring 1,925 career points, which also broke the Hamilton County girls record.
Alum Josh Fugate was celebrated before the boys basketball game against Carmel on Feb. 14, and served as an honorary coach. Fugate, a former HSE athlete, was injured during his senior year and is now paralyzed after an unrelated accident following graduation.
HSENEWS 15 Athletic department secretary Nancy Clingman was given a varsity letter for her many years of service as she is retiring at the end of the school year. The game, named “Nancy Clingman Night,” honored Clingman for her dedication to HSE Athletics. Photos by Nicholas Heltzel.
IN MY OPINION:
JUDGED BY THE GRADE
We have all been absent from school when we aren’t truly sick, just to get out of something we don’t want to do. For me, most of the time, it’s because of tests I don’t want to take, tests are supposed to measure what we have learned, but if we haven’t fully learned it then we get punished. We get punished by a bad grade that follows us around for the rest of the year. They don’t look at the homework grades where you get an 100% every time, just the tests with the one question per unit. How I perform in a class partially depends on the teacher. When a teacher is teaching with genuine excitement, I am more likely to do well. When teachers have to teach to a test, I feel that it takes away from the enthusiasm in the method of instruction The way schools are set up, you spend all year taking tests to see if they transition on to the next grade. Once you reach the end you take a really big exams and try to get the highest score to determine where the next place is that you can go to take more exams to start the rest of your life. To be fair, some colleges have started to become test optional, because they have realized that students have more to offer than a GPA. Sitting through the ACT and SAT is hard. We are expected to sit and focus for three or more hours. Our brains are mush, we are tired because they start so early in the morning, we would rather be anywhere else on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Overall, tests stress us out and, for those who study, take up most of our free time we have outside of school. I feel that there are different ways to gauge how students are doing in a class that do not effect the rest of their career. Opinion Column by Kennedy Fisher.
