A recorded message greets callers.
“Thank you for calling Hurricane High School,” it says, “home of the Redskins.”
The school has been the “home of the Redskins,” just like the NFL team in Washington, D.C., and other sports teams, for years and years.
Yet a new year is fast approaching. And one should wonder if that year — 2016 — is the one Hurricane High tells the nickname to relocate from that home. Or, perhaps better, simply disappear.
I bring this up today because financial help has been offered to the school. And if ever a change is going to take place, now is the time to move on it.
Let’s face it, the term “Redskin” is, by definition, offensive. And I mean literally “by definition.” Check any dictionary. Across the board, it’s deemed offensive. Caucasians wouldn’t like mascots as “Whiteskins.” African-Americans wouldn’t like mascots as “Blackskins” or “Brownskins.”
(I will stop here, however, to say what’s worse is Point Pleasant’s informal nickname of Big Blacks. Rant Sports once put together the “20 Horrible High School Mascots” — and named PPHS No. 1. “Their mascot is a knight, but their nickname is the ‘Big Blacks,’ can you get any more racist than that?” asked the Web site. Apparently, Big Blacks are a shortened form of Black Knights. Yet does that really make it better?)
But back to my primary point. At the beginning of November, Adidas announced it would offer financial support to any U.S. high school that wishes to change its logo or mascot “from potentially harmful Native American imagery or symbolism.”
That’s big because an obstacle to changing mascot names is the inherent cost involved. There’s anything from signage to uniforms to stadiums to letterheads that would need to be changed. Yet the $18 billion apparel giant has offered to help any of the 2,000 schools across the country with such mascots to change.
Oneida Indian Nation leader Ray Halbritter told the Washington Post it was a “tremendous display of corporate leadership.”
Also, the act came on the heels of a major victory for rights activists. California has banned the use of “Redskins” from use at public schools via the “California Racial Mascots Act” signed in October. The ban takes effect on Jan. 1, 2017.
In West Virginia, however, we haven’t seen much of an outcry.
“I’ve never had anyone call and complain,” said Hurricane High athletic director Gary Eggleton. “I know in 1994 the issue was pushed by TV chasers. We had reporters calling and asking if we had complaints. I asked our administrators and they said no.
“We always took it as [a point of] pride to have Redskins as the name. It was never taken as a joke or comical.”
There has, of course, been debate nationally. The move by Adidas was lauded by President Barack Obama, but severely criticized by those representing the Washington Redskins. The NFL team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, has steadfastly refused to change the name.
The topic will continue to surface. Just last year the Gazette-Mail’s David Gutman wrote a piece with the headline: “Is Hurricane High School’s mascot a racial slur?” The story was prompted after a “Change the Mascot” campaign television advertisement aired and challenged the Washington Redskins’ name.
Understand too this has been an issue since 1968, when the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) launched a campaign to address stereotypes found in print and other media. There were activists at Dartmouth College the next year. In 1970, the University of Oklahoma retired its “Little Red” mascot that had been a traditional part of the school’s athletics since the 1940s.
So this is not new. St. John’s dropped “Redmen” as its nickname in favor of “Red Storm” in 1995. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office canceled the Washington NFL team’s trademark last year.
So the heat will continue to rise. And maybe now is the time for Hurricane High to make a move. There are funds available to help. Maybe it would be smart to take Adidas up on the offer — before it’s taken off the table. And before West Virginia’s legislature one day follows California.
Look, no one is accusing anyone at HHS of being racist. No one is accusing those that came up with the name as vicious.
“I always looked at it as a pride thing,” Eggleton said. “We’d ask those in middle school if they wanted to be a Hurricane Redskin with a sense of pride. There was nothing negative. I wouldn’t want to be associated with it if it were negative.”
Those with common sense understand that. Those using common sense also understand the lack of outcry has something to do with the school’s makeup. Demographics say HHS is 96 percent Caucasian. Gutman’s story pointed out that only .2 percent of those in Putnam County are American Indian.
Oh, and a tidbit? Eggleton said “[HHS] deals with Adidas in our bid process for equipment.”
“Most of our soccer equipment,” he said, “is Adidas.”
He said the school, though, deals directly with sports shops like Spartan in Beckley, Zide’s in Ona and Glenn’s in Huntington.
In this case, however, maybe it’s time to cut out the middle man.
Maybe it’s time to let Adidas cut the school a check.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s time to cut loose of the nickname “Redskins.”