Mia Santana considered leaving Fresno High School because of the backlash and hateful messages she’s received after fighting to remove the school’s “racist” mascot that depicts a Native American caricature.
“I’m Native American myself,” the 15-year-old Yaqui-Yoeme Native told The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab. “I feel like I don’t belong there. I made a lot of friends here with me today, standing against this racist mascot with me. Even if I do receive backlash for feeling some type of way, I still have them with me.”
AJ Mijangos, a 15-year-old Roosevelt High School student who prefers they/them pronouns, said they received death threats after posting a TikTok video about why the Fresno High mascot should be changed.
“It’s imposing on students’ ability to learn, and not only is it a slap in the face,” the Mexican Nahuatl and Zapotec Native said, “our land was taken, our people were killed, and then you mock us, and that’s not OK at all.”
“We are more than just characters with red skin and hooked noses and feathers. We are people, and we are survivors.”
Santana has been advocating alongside Jamie Nelson, who sparked the city-wide conversation, since June for Fresno Unified School District board members to remove Fresno High’s Warrior mascot. On Wednesday, the board is expected to vote on the mascot’s fate.
“If you’re going to plaster our faces across your school, you might as well consider the fact that we’re human, and we matter just as much as you do,” Santana said.
Nelson, a Yokuts Native, created a Change.org petition over the summer to change the mascot and keep the Warrior name that has gathered more than 6,600 signatures as of Tuesday morning. The petition started a movement in Fresno that has garnered support but also sparked a backlash.
Like Mijangos, Nelson has also received numerous death threats for speaking out against the mascot.
A counter-petition was created to keep the mascot by a Fresno High alumnus, Joshua Washburn, which has more than 2,100 signatures petitions as of Tuesday morning.
“The backlash is very real,” Nelson told The Bee. “I really hope, for the sake of all things good, I hope those kids moved those adults in power (FUSD board) to do the right thing. It’s always been about the kids. I’m so proud of them.”
Fresno High held a student town hall and surveyed those who attended. FUSD held a virtual town hall meeting last month for community members to voice their opinions on changing the mascot.
Critics said the district should not change the Native American mascot because it pays homage to the culture and has been the Fresno High tradition.
“Becoming a Fresno High Warrior was an honor to me,” Washburn said during the town hall. “I see our Warrior mascot as more of ... strength, equity, and diversity.”
The Fresno High Alumni Association sent out an email to members on Nov. 10 urging them to send comments to FUSD board members supporting the mascot.
“PLEASE get the word out that comments are needed supporting the SYMBOL (refrain from the use of ‘mascot’), and of course, language needs to be respectful and reflect why the symbol is of positive personal importance,” the email said. “We have heard several stories from Alumni, including Native Americans who looked up to the symbol and wanted to emulate the positive attributes such as courage, strength, bravery, and loyalty to name just a few.”
Community members who want to submit a public comment must email publiccomment@fresnounified.org or leave a voicemail at 559-457-6222 by 8 p.m. Tuesday People can find more information here.
Native American mascots are offensive, degrading, Fresno students say
Mijangos doesn’t attend Fresno High but still knows what it feels like to go to school every day and see themselves depicted as a mascot. Mijangos went to Tenaya Middle School, which also has a Native American mascot.
“Not only do l face harassment, and it’s a struggle to get through the day, but when I went to Tenaya Middle School, I was one of the only kids who looked like me,” Mijangos said. “I actually had a protest to take down the mascot.”
“This is a statewide and country-wide issue, and I think if we could do this and show people we can take down a racist mascot, and that can happen in Fresno County,” Mijangos said.
Native Americans from the Yokuts tribe inhabited the land Fresno High sits on before white colonizers stole it. Fresno High student Savannah Ibarra told The Bee that people should put themselves “in the shoes of indigenous people.”
”This mascot represents a whole school, and it’s so normalized people don’t’ see how it’s offensive and how it’s not honoring Native American people,” the 16-year-old said. “(They) were slaughtered.”
People appropriated the Native American culture and created a mascot based on what they think Native American people look like “and made it into something funny … stereotypical, and it degrades a person so badly,” Ibarra said. “How would you feel?”
Movement to eliminate Native American mascots growing
Native American mascots have been used at schools for almost 100 years. In recent years, there has been a movement to eliminate them because research shows it can negatively affect student achievement.
Data shows that Native students in Fresno Unified schools also have struggled. About 0.6% of the district’s students were American Indian or Alaskan Natives in the 2018-19 school year, according to data from the California Department of Education. That same school year, about 45% of American Indian or Alaskan Natives did not meet English language arts/literacy standards set by the state’s California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
About 46% of Native American and Alaska Native students also did not meet math CAASPP standards in the 2018-19 school year, data shows.
“A specific part I’m deeply concerned about is Native youth not doing well academically and doing significantly bad,” Nelson said. “We’re seeing what we can do about that. This mascot issue really matters to the psychology of a child.”
Native Americans experience higher rates of suicide, according to the National Indian Council on Aging, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the health and well-being of Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Native Americans between ages 10-24 and is 2.5 times higher than the national average.
About 2,000 teams in the country have some type of Native American-themed mascot, and the majority are associated with schools, according to a study published in June in the academic journal Race Ethnicity and Education. The report said it’s “crucial” schools take “immediate” action to change mascots depicting Native Americans.
Most people in the U.S do not see Native American mascots as problematic, the study said. However, the study said, “the psychosocial effects of these mascots demonstrate either direct negative effects on Native Americans or that these mascots activate, reflect, and/or reinforce stereotyping and prejudice among non-Native persons.”
Multiple studies conducted in recent years also concluded that Native American mascots should be eliminated.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.