Mukwonago gets a reprieve
So now what, Mukwonago?
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Donald Hassin Jr. surprised a lot of people with his ruling that the state Department of Public Instruction's heavy-handed tactics to force Mukwonago School district to drop American Indian mascots was a sham. Hassin called the process silly and essentially said it was a farce because the state official asked to determine whether a school district was biased was himself biased. Because he was acting under direct order of his superiors' directives to get rid of the logo, there was little or no chance for him to serve as an unbiased arbiter in the case.
In a word, Hassin said the state was being unfair, and he summarily threw the case out.
Now the process to develop a new mascot for Mukwonago is in limbo. Do we keep the old one or keep working toward a new one? Will this case be appealed? Will a proposed state law that would force the DPI to prove the mascots are offensive, rather than the current law that requires districts to prove they are not, have a chance of passing?
The real question the law should ask is what harm is brought by the mascot? Is there evidence that the mascot fostered a climate of racism and bigotry at the school? Is there evidence that this caused students' opportunity for education to be subverted? A single complaint, unless it is egregious, would hardly seem enough to be enough to foster such a significant change. But multiple complaints and strong evidence of a climate of harassment against Native Americans at the school should be enough to force change.
That might be true at Mukwonago High School, but we have not seen enough significant evidence to substantiate it, at least not yet.
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3 Comments
mukwonago farmer - Oct 11, 2011 11:20 PM
gunderso - Nov 04, 2011 2:19 AM
The editorial assertion that “The real question the law should ask is what harm is brought by the mascot?” shows how uninformed the local news media is in the Mukwonago area. If newspaper personnel had bothered to become informed and read the research submitted at the Hearing, they would know the answer to that question! They would understand the psychological harm that inherently arises from race-based athletic identities such as the race-based athletic policy of the Mukwonago School Board. They would realize that research has determined that exposure to ‘Indian’ athletic identities increases the receptivity to ALL racial minorities, not only American Indians. Moreover, research shows that it harms students of all racial minorities in all competing school districts as well as Mukwonago. That’s why this isn’t ”a local matter”, because the harm doesn’t stop at the boundaries of the Mukwonago School District. No school board can be allowed to have a race-based policy that harms students enrolled in other school districts. “Local control” doesn’t apply when the harm extends beyond the boundaries of the School District.
For those still ignorant of the research, please become informed by reading the research and the decision/briefs from the Mukwonago Hearing --- go to indianmascots.com.
Katehla - Nov 04, 2011 11:23 PM
generation to generation right into the present. It is school districts like Mukwonago
that work against our efforts by insisting on keeping alive one dimensional
stereotypes that freeze frame our cultures in concepts of what European-Americans
would like us to me - good luck charms for their sports teams. Folks like Mukwonago
Farmer who have had limited contact with indian persons and build their ideas of
who we are on a tourist visit to a reservation, or Hollywood movies or local mascot
myths are the ones who are not moving into the 21st Century. Wisconsin Indian
Tribes have been politely asking school districts to change this practice that is
harmful to all Wisconsin children for twenty years. 33 school districts have
succeeded, now is the time for Mukwonago to show some grace.