Marysville school gets permission from Tulalip Tribes to keep ‘Tomahawk’ mascot
Dec 9, 2021, 10:08 AM | Updated: 10:59 am
(Marysville Pilchuck High School, Facebook)
(Marysville Pilchuck High School, Facebook)
In June 2021, Marysville Pilchuck High School began making preparations to do away with its Tomahawk mascot, after the passage of a state law to end the use of Native American mascots in schools.
After a vote this week by the Tulalip Tribes Board of Directors, though, the school will be allowed to keep its mascot after all.
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That Tulalip Tribes board sent a letter to the Marysville School District on Tuesday, informing it that Marysville Pilchuck High School could keep its Tomahawk mascot, despite members being “conflicted” on the decision.
“As each passing generation moves on and a new generation emerges we are losing more and more of our Indian identity,” Tulalip elder Les Parks told the Everett Herald. “… So it’s important to me, and to our Indian culture, that we maintain as much of that as possible.”
“The Marysville Tomahawk meaning fits right into that category of just reminding us who we are every day, and what we stand for and where we came from and what we live like and where we’re going in the future,” Parks added.
Marysville’s Totem Lake Middle School will have to get rid of its Thunderbird mascot, however, with the Tulalip board voting in favor of the change earlier in 2021.
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The Legislature passed House Bill 1356 as part of the 2021 legislative session, with the bill taking effect on Jan. 1, 2022. In practice, it bans the use of Native American imagery without tribal authorization, finding that its use propagates “a barrier to equality and understanding.” It also allows leeway for individual tribes to give their approval to specific schools to continue the use of Native American mascots.
The law as passed by the Legislature cites cultural appropriation and potential for discrimination among its reasons for outlawing the use of Native American signage in public schools.
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