To the Journal editor:

On Feb. 17, the Marquette Area Public Schools Board of Education affirmed the retirement of the old Marquette Senior High School native logo and formally adopted the block “M” as the Marquette Senior High School logo.

We want to thank the board and the superintendent for their candid conversation and their deliberative vote at that meeting. This was an encouraging formal affirmation of the decision made over a decade ago to phase out the logo.

As the board members acknowledged at the meeting, the vote on the logo was not intended to serve as a shared solution to the problems with the current MSHS nicknames.

The logo vote and the thoughtful conversations made by the MAPS board bode well for the future of our students, as they were a step toward finally aligning MSHS with the Michigan State Board of Education’s 2003 resolution (reaffirmed in 2010 and 2017) that “the Michigan State Board of Education supports and strongly recommends the elimination of American Indian mascots, nicknames, logos, fight songs, insignias, antics, and team descriptors by all Michigan schools.”

The phase-out of the logo over 15 years ago was an appropriate start, but the nicknames are still in place.

There has been broad and deep community support for the MAPS board’s renewed interest in changing the nicknames of the MSHS teams. In different times, “R*dmen” and “R*d*ttes” may not have carried harmful derogatory meaning, but these nicknames are now commonly recognized as racial slurs and gender-demeaning.

Tribal, national, and state organizations from Little League International to the United Tribes of Michigan to the NCAA have officially condemned and prohibited the use of these nicknames. These nicknames are no longer appropriate to represent boys and girls teams at MSHS, teams for which we hope our children will one day be proud to compete.

We trust the MAPS board will continue to work with educators, students, parents, and leaders of our Native American community to reach a decision that is consistent with the MAPS Mission Statement, “… to maximize the academic potential of every child.”