Iron County Democratic Party Executive Committee Statement on Attempts to Reinstitute the “Redmen” Name at Cedar High School
The Iron County School Board meeting held on Tuesday, March 26, included an agenda item that reopened a years-long controversy over Cedar High School’s nickname. The question was whether the school should revert its current nickname – “Reds” – to its previous nickname – “Redmen”, which is regarded as a racial slur both by common use and by dictionary definition.
According to a statement from the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah’s Tribal Council, ‘The term “Redmen” is a term not recognized within Native American communities as paying respect to the history and legacy of this nation’s first people. But rather a slang term that has been used over 200 years to attribute racial defamation to Native people.’ Racial slurs have no place in Iron County. We are better than that.
Some who wanted the “Redmen” name back coordinated an effort to remove the voice of the citizens by putting together a campaign that would have required months to develop, but became public only in the days before the meeting. The campaign, which included an op ed, a billboard that included the previous mascot’s imagery, and putting the name on the agenda exactly 1 day before the meeting (the minimum required time) was expertly orchestrated to silence any potential critics. There was even an attempt from county commissioners to overextend their authority, claiming the school board’s authority comes from them alone (it doesn’t, it comes from the state legislature). This was an attempt to push through an agenda without giving our community time to make plans to attend the meeting (finding child care, etc), let alone to coordinate an adequate response (e.g. organizing opposition, writing op eds, or contacting the appropriate officials). A great many citizens likely didn’t even know what was happening until the news articles that came out the next day.
We, the Iron County Democratic Party Executive Committee, would like to thank the Iron County School Board for standing up to this effort and voting not to force this change on our school students, staff, administrators, and community members without hearing our voices. We appreciate the courage that takes. With the initial decision to put this on a ballot at the first legal opportunity, we look forward to having the community’s voice be the determining factor, and we look forward to our community emphatically stating that we are not okay with using slurs to represent our children. If it is determined that such a process is not legal, we ask that the school board not make any decision on this issue without, at the very least, professional polling of students, staff, administration, and the CHS community.
If you would like to learn more about the harm such a name can cause a community, the following link provides a summary of the American Psychological Association’s 2001 resolution to end the use of Indian mascots. The summary includes a link to the complete text and a list of scientific studies supporting this resolution: https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/indian-mascots.