Alina Balasoiu, a junior at Lamar High School, walks back to school after play in a soccer game in the fields behind the school, March 31. A bill going through the Colorado Legislature that would require panel approval for mascot and team names. Several Native Americans testified how hurtful it is to have Indian team names, and the Lamar Savages in particular have been singled out for having a name that is considered offensive. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
Re: “Colorado governor creates task force on American Indian mascots,” Oct. 7 news story.
As if there weren’t enough pressing issues facing Gov. John Hickenlooper and his legislative allies, they will now be inserting themselves into the American Indian high school mascot discussion, which no doubt will produce a solution looking for a problem. Good sense tells you that the citizens of Lamar, Kiowa, et al., working through their locally elected school boards, would be no less effective (and perhaps more so) in addressing the concerns of tribal leaders — should the need arise — than having given way to Draconian guidance from overreaching state lawmakers.
Doug Hacker, Denver
This letter was published in the Oct. 10 edition.
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