Radnor Raiders Name And Logo Embarrass Many Alum, Students

RADNOR TOWNSHIP, PA — Two feathers dangle on a circle that encloses a capital letter R for Radnor Raider, imagery that evokes what many said are damaging and denigrating to Native Americans. Radnor High School alum last week told the school board the logo and name are "embarrassing" even as they said they are proud of their school otherwise.

After four hours of public comment on the image question, the Radnor Township School District Board of Directors recessed its Aug. 4 meeting with public comment now closed. It will set a date to reconvene.

The Radnor Raiders'costumed mascot of an Native American in feather headdress was retired in 2013, but the question of the Raiders name and associated imagery remained the question for public comment last week. District Communications Director Michael Petitti explained that the Raiders name was established without reference to Native Americans, but it was in the 1960's that the school's archives begins to show this association. Several comments pointed to the association with a beloved retiree, Emerson "Chief" Metoxen, of the Oneida Nation, who attended the Carlisle Indian School and earned a master's degree from Harvard. Metoxen retired about this time and died in 1989.

Radnor High School graduate Kyle Addis evoked this connection, saying the mascot was used in Metoxen's honor. Addis argued for keeping the name and the school logo with its feathers, in order to embrace the school's history.

But Addis, president of his 2018 senior class, was in a minority. Many voices, from a rising freshman to alumni, parents, and professors, called on the school board to eliminate the Raiders name and logo because of the associations with Native American stereotypes that research shows has damaging effects on both indigenous people and on those who perpetuate the stereotypes.

Radnor High Alumni Hall of Famer Mayavan Rossum asked the board to retire the image and the name, which she said teaches denigrating treatment of others, as well as bigotry. She told the board that she has received vulgar messages for her published opinions.

Mayavan told the board, "The consensus is that when Native American people speak, policy makers do not listen, and continue to make decisions that are harmful." She said, "The school board needs to show its students that listening matters, that respect matters."

Becca Zajac, a rising senior at Radnor High School who is a cheerleader, said that she loves cheering for her school, but "my discomfort grows." She said that she finds the Raiders mascot derogatory.

Rising ninth grader Natalie Dumin pointed to the "underlying racism" represented by the logo and name.

Former district superintendent Dr. John Crosby commented with a rhetorical question, asking why "we can understand Black Lives Matter, but we have to have someone explain why this denigrates Native American people?" He said research shows these logos have "serious psychological and social consequences" and negative effects both on Native American people, and on Radnor students.

Dylan Roche, a 2020 graduate of Radnor High School, told the school board that while he was very proud of the education he received at Radnor High, he was "embarrassed by the racist stereotype" the Raiders name and logo represented.

Marley Duchovnay, a 2015 graduate, also said she was very proud of "many things" about her high school education at Radnor, but said, "I'm quite ashamed of this."

Sociology professor and Radnor School District parent Rick Eckstein, Ph.D., said, "We are at a unique cultural moment" in which we are recognizing "one need not be a racist to legitimate systemic racism," a time when "subtle unintentional forms of racism are being recognized." Eckstein urged the board to abandon the Raiders name and logo.

Eckstein admitted he had thought perhaps the district could dispose of Native American imagery but keep the Raiders name. He explained, though, that he changed his mind recently when the Aunt Jemima brand was retired by Quaker Oats. He said the company had determined that "the Aunt Jemima name and the imagery were fused" and that is was impossible to use one without the other. "And so it is, I believe, with our use of the Raiders."

After a long period of live comments, in the video venue, board members read aloud email comments the school district had received on the question. This took nearly two hours.

Board member Sarah Dunn summarized the public comments received by email and in the live meeting, saying opinions fell into three categories: Remove the Radnor Raiders mascot and the name, remove the Native American mascot but keep the Raiders name, or retain both the name and the mascot.

Board President Susan Stern reminded the board at the meeting's end that the board was not obliged to take any action at that time, that the meeting's designated purpose was to allow for public comment on the matter.

District Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Batchelor said "We've had long meetings and we've had very thoughtful meetings." The full meeting comments can be viewed here.

The National Congress of American Indians states, "The intolerance and harm promoted by these 'Indian' sports mascots, logos, or symbols, have very real consequences for Native people."

"Specifically, rather than honoring Native peoples, these caricatures and stereotypes are harmful, perpetuate negative stereotypes of America’s first peoples, and contribute to a disregard for the personhood of Native peoples." A video statement on mascots titled "Proud To Be," from the National Congress of American Indians can be viewed here.

The NCAI presents research showing derogatory "Indian" sports mascots have serious psychological, social and cultural consequences for Native Americans, especially Native youth here.