Keep 'Chieftain,' 'Warrior' Names, Tribal Leader Says: Report

WEST HARTFORD, CT — At a school board meeting Tuesday night, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation's chief said he supports keeping the "Chieftain" and "Warrior" team names at West Hartford's high schools, the Hartford Courant reported.

Chief Richard Velky said his nation is "honored in one sense" that the schools represented Native Americans in their mascots, the Courant reported.

"This state tried to erase us — they're still trying to do that today," he said at the meeting, as reported by the Courant. "When somebody says to us, 'Are you offended by a symbol or a logo,' I'm saying, 'no, what offends me is what happened to us.'"

In February, the West Hartford Board of Education voted to fully eliminate the "Warrior" name from Hall High School and the "Chieftans" name from Conard High School.

Read more: Native American Nicknames Officially Scrapped In West Hartford

The logos had already been altered, and as of February the goal was to have new names and logos in place by the end of the school year.

Read more from the Hartford Courant.