Logo logistics
Apparently, the Wakefield School Department doesn’t have enough on its plate at the moment, so last week administrators announced plans to push ahead with developing a new high school sports logo to replace the Native American image that was so heinous it took three quarters of a century to determine that it was offensive.
Presumably, the process of choosing a new logo will require somewhat less time.
That process will include two “forums” this month – one for students and one “community forum” — to gather feedback regarding a new logo. If you want a preview, go back and watch video of the very balanced “Native American panel” and community forum that the School Committee held last spring prior to getting rid of the old logo.
The process will also involve the creation of a committee to develop a new logo. This committee will complement the already created committee on the development on an “Indigenous curriculum” for the schools. The Indigenous curriculum is part of our atonement for the grievous sin of using an image of an Indian warrior as our school logo. The School Department is big on “making amends” these days.
For the very first meeting of the Indigenous Curriculum Committee, school administrators brought in one of their favorite paid “consultants” as the keynote speaker. Dr. Mishy Lesser is founder of the “Upstander Project” and “Upstander Academy.”
The Upstander Project/Upstander Academy preaches that all Americans of European descent are “invaders” and “colonizers” living on “stolen land.” Lesser and her Upstander Project want to “break down Eurocentric knowledge silos” and encourage “decolonization,” which, according to Indigenous scholars, involves an “ongoing critique of Western world views.”
Since they keep paying Dr. Lesser, school leaders presumably share those beliefs. In fact, Wakefield paid to send Social Studies and English curriculum coordinators to Upstander Academy last summer to learn how to incorporate these teachings into the local school curriculum. (But they would never dream of bringing Critical Race Theory into the schools. Trashing Western civilization is where they draw the line.)
According to School Superintendent Doug Lyons, the process for selecting a new logo will be modeled after the process for developing the Indigenous curriculum.
Does that mean that Dr. Lesser will be brought in to conduct a little indoctrination session at the student forum? Or is that being handled in the classrooms?
Lyons provided a preview of the new logo selection process at a recent School Committee meeting.
“We’re looking at keeping the Warrior name, right?” Lyons asked. “How might we be able to get a symbol or logo or something to align with that?”
Good questions, especially given the policy language approved last October by the School Committee: “Mascots, logos, team names, and/or nicknames will not be derogatory or offensive to persons of any race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religion, or age. Neither should the mascot, logo, team name, and/or nickname depict violence or abuse.”
Never sticklers for consistency, they’re happy to ignore the fact that the name “Warriors” by definition “depicts violence.” That aside, I decided to Google “warrior logos” to see what others have come up with.
It’s not easy to find “warrior” images that don’t depict fighting men of one ethnicity or another.
The Golden State Warriors decided to go with an image of the Golden Gate Bridge as their logo. What a bridge has to do with “Warriors” is anyone’s guess. But don’t be surprised if our logo committee decides to go with a safe Wakefield image like the Bandstand. (The Hiker statue is unacceptable. He’s an actual warrior.)
Per the logo policy, a majority of the new logo committee will be students, so some random cartoon image is also a distinct possibility, even though one criticism of the old logo was that it was “cartoonish.”
I also wouldn’t be shocked if they conclude that it’s just too hard to come up with an image that “aligns” with “Warriors” but doesn’t “depict violence.” In that case, they could change the team name, which I’ve suspected was part of the plan all along.
Since we’re all illegitimate colonizers, I think “Wakefield Invaders” is a name everyone can agree on. A new logo would still have to be created.
Hey, do I have to do everything?
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[This column originally appeared in the December 2, 2021 Wakefield Daily Item.]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 9 Comments
Tags: amends, atonement, Bandstand, community forum, Critical Race Theory, curriculum, decolonization, diversity, Douglas Lyons, education, equity, Eurocentrism, Golden State Warriors, Hiker, Humor, inclusion, Indienous people, Mishy Lesser, Opinion, Politics, schools, students, teachers, Upstander Academy, Upstander Project, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield School Committee, Wakefield Warriors, Warrior logo, Western Civilization
Flickr Photos
Mark Sardella 
Before I get to the insidious Nature of this attempt to “Intellectualize” the many facists of
“Why” there is n Absolute necessity to rid Wakefield and America of history, traditons and respect for the Proud recognition of the people who step up for their people and communities, the Warriors. Fortunately, Wakefield had real “Indian” ( Native American) residents who supported the Warrior theme embraced by the Community. Even making Head dresses fot the late Redman’s Band. I grew up in Wakefield enjoying the Bands on the Fourth of July. Redman included. The unique
” Indian Trading Post” Owned & Operated by the Byard family, who enjoyed the communities respect and appreciation of having “Real” Indians as members of the Wakefield Community. I know that the controversy surrounding Logo and has already covered most of what I have had to say. So let’s get to the REAL reason that certain School Boards, Departments and Committees are embracing and promoting Upstander Organization. Same goes for the promoters of CRT. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS!! I am sute there are sincere people who support this notion of Colonialism etc. White Man Bad. But Dr.Lesser ( She’s A Doctor, had to be right) snd the promoters are in it for the MONEY. UPSTANDER U. Training UPSTANDER curriculum. Books printed by UPSTANDER to be sold to School Departments.
This is the same game CRT is playing. And CRT isn’t even a Curriculum Based teaching tool. IT’S A THEORY. Well, I have a Theory both of these entities have front people selling SNAKE OIL. I wonder if the headd of School Boards/ Departments arr being offered some of the ACTION 🤔
It is actually far worse — her dissertation is at scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AA19709618
I don’t know about now, but in the 1990s, the Center for International Education at UMass was a bastion of Anti-American Marxism where Critical Race Theory was a bedrock principle. A place where White males were viewed as inherently evil.
She writes in Eduspeak, not English, but be afraid. Be very afraid…..
What? You think the Center for International Education grew more sensible since then? That would be worthy of an exhibit at a Ripley museum!
When and where is the meeting to determine a new logo. I want to attend it . Will it be kept a secret so the public is again kept from the machinations of the School committee. ? since they ignored the wishes of the Wakefield citizens who voted in their non-binding referendum, (clever of them to make it non-binding) and went ahead with their own wishes, I would at least like a chance to speak .
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Wakefield Invaders? How about a mob of carpetbaggers with stickers like “Everett”, “Revere”, “Medford” and “Malden” on them? That would scare anybody!
Mark, how much has the Town paid Dr. Lesser, and exactly how does a Doctorate in International Education qualify her as an expert in Social Studies & English curriculum? Notwithstanding my concerns with the UMass CIE, isn’t this a like hiring an OB/GYN to do eye surgery?
As someone whose Doctorate is actually IN K-12 curriculum, I have a professional concern about my tax dollars being paid to someone who appears not to have a background in my field. If, in fact, that is what our curriculum dollars were spent on — and I think the taxpayers of this town have a right to know what our money is being spent on.
So we’re occupying “stolen” lands, huh? If Mishy knew any, like, actual history, Mishy would know the early settlers actually BOUGHT land from the first natives. While this wasn’t always true it was the custom in early New England. And if the natives had written histories I’d be willing to bet that accounts of tribes stealing better hunting grounds from their weaker neighbors wouldn’t be exactly unheard of.
Has anyone pondered an alternate history? Europeans arrive – see natives here and decide they can’t come here – this place is already taken. What happens when the Chinese or the Russians eventually discover this land? And they would, eventually. Are they going to just go away too? Or only take that land the natives agree to sell or hand over?
Scrounging around for old wounds to open up is of no real use to anyone except intellectuals with more degrees than brains or greedy, power-hungry bureacrats looking for a wedge to divide a people who were co-existing (without the bumper stickers) so they can be fleeced, subjucated and ruled over.
We desperately need a better class of citizen on our school boards. People not so corrupt. People concerned for children of the town and the country it’s in.
Anthony, much of the land had technically been abandoned, so it was bought from Indians who didn’t themselves own it.
Two words: Climate Change….
The worst of the Little Ice Age was 1560-1650 with Boston Harbor freezing in the winter of 1641-42. 1609-10 was the winter that 2/3 of the Jamestown Colony died, with starving survivors reduced to eating the dead. It was not only cold winters but droughts — crops died as did the game animals who also had nothing to eat. And Native American technology did not facilitate fishing through the ice.
It’s believed that 90 percent of the Indians died prior to the arrival of the Europeans with European diseases such as Smallpox often cited as the cause. Now that didn’t help, but neither did starving to death nor trying to survive frigid weather with clothing and shelter that had been designed for a warmer climate.
Prior to 1560, the climate had been warmer than it is now, and the winter of 1607-08 was particuarly frigid. Large numbers of Indians perishing — in many cases everyone in the village died. In others, the village no longer had enough young men to defend itself against looting by other Indians.
Team Mishy will never tell you that the reason why the Indians helped the Pilgrims was that they wanted help defending themselves against other Indians whom they feared would attack. Nor that the land, which had been purchased, had been stolen, BY INDIANS, from other Indians.
CRT isn’t about truth — it’s about advancing a political agenda…
I need to add one other thing — history is messy and reality is that the Native Peoples were doing a lot of nasty things to each other long before the Europeans arrived.
I don’t know exactly what a certain high school student did or didn’t do, but not mentioned is what young Indian men used to do — the raiding parties and stealing brides.
What they would do is go to the village of a neighboring tribe and haul off women — and middle school aged girls — by force. While the Europeans considered this to be rape & kidnapping, it was considered socially acceptable in the Indian culture. And we know this happened because European women & girls were kidnapped as well, sometimes being released years later. Sometimes not.
I’m not saying that the Europeans were angels — they weren’t. But if Dr Lesser is going to go with inter-generational trauma and the rest, well the Indians weren’t angels either….