A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at the state capital as the Minnesota state legislature discusses an education bill that would remove Native American nicknames from high schools.
One of the schools that could be affected is Warroad High School, which has the nickname the “Warriors.”
The school’s assistant boys hockey coach, Darrell “Son” Shaugabay, joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Vineeta Sawkar to discuss the legislation and what he thinks about it.
Shaugabay is fighting to preserve the nickname and the school’s logo as he says it’s a “symbolic honoring and a very respectful thing in the Native community.”
There is a history behind the school’s logo and even the ground that the building sits on, dating back to the early 1900s, Shaugabay shared. He says that the local chief, at the time, gave up some of his tribe’s land so that the first Warroad High School building could be constructed.
“In exchange for that land, he said, ‘We would like you guys to be called the Warriors of Warroad,’” Shaugabay said.
Shaugabay said that because of the history of the school, he and others in the area think that the nickname should be kept to honor those who came before.
“It’s just been always so honoring, for me, as a native person in the area, to always want to be a Warrior,” Shaugabay said.
When it comes to major league sports and the push in recent years to change offensive team names, like the Washington Redskins, now the Washington Football Team, and the Cleveland Indians, now the Cleveland Guardians, Shaugabay says this is different.
When looking at previous names like the Redskins, Shaugabay says it’s a “derogatory name” and not one that’s “honoring or symbolic” like the Warriors.
“If you do any research on where the name Redskins came from, or even in my opinion, just Indians… that’s not an honoring name or a respectful name. It was to be derogatory,” Shaugabay said.
In terms of looking at nicknames that were never meant to honor or be respectful of Native American culture, Shaugabay said he supports the change, but he notes that not every name falls under that category, especially his school’s name.
“There’s an overwhelming support to keep it, not only in our community, but it sure seems like here in the last couple of weeks we’re finding out it’s all over the state, all over the region, that there’s an overwhelming support for it,” Shaugabay said. “Is there somebody who wants to change it? I’m sure there is somewhere, but it’s not locally in our community.”
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