Including my Alma Mater Lamar HS. http://msn.foxsports.com/southwest/...hools-change-historically-insensitive-mascots Houston schools change 'historically insensitive' mascots The Redskins are still in Washington D.C., but they're not in Houston anymore. The Houston Independent School District announced on Tuesday it has officially changed its mascots with "Native American or historically insensitive ties." The Lamar High School Redskins will become the Texans, the Welch Middle School Warriors will become the Wolf Pack, and the Westbury High School Rebels will now be known as the Huskies. It's a simple change of name, but it won't be cheap. HISD says it will cost $38,000 to remove all old symbols and signs at the campuses, and $50,000 for new uniforms. "The moral cost to our reputation as a diverse district -- where we care about the sensitivities of every single individual -- would be incalculable if we were not to do this," HISD superintendent Terry Grier said. As for the NFL's Redskins, the debate still continues.
neither is "warrior". i get changing redskins, but how is warrior offensive...or rebel for that matter? but yeah, HUUUUUGE difference b/t viking and redskin... i would want my mascot to be a guy waiting for someone to finish peeing before they pee in the urinal next to them.
Does that mean I can't wear my old Lamar High School Redskins shirt anymore? I thought for sure they were changing it to Rangers or something some 6-7 years ago. Lamar High School Texans doesn't feel right... Lamar High School Rockets fits better.
I think "Warrior" when used generically it is fine but in the case of Welch MS they were tying it to Native American imagery. The GS Warriors had a similar situation when they were the Philadelphia Warriors but ended up dropping any Native American imagery while keeping the name "Warriors".
HISD's Robert E. Lee Rebels used to embrace the 'stars and bars' back in the late 80's-early 90's (no idea what their mascot is now). That's offensive to people of many races.
Whats funny is that continuing to drop native american mascots around america will eventually make people forget indians existed. When the whites in this country become a minority, I hope that they will honor us with team names(honkies, crackers, rangers, etc).
As an Australian I find all of this very weird. I understand the redskins name being an issue. If native Americans want that changed, it needs to be changed. However....warriors? Isn't it a bad thing to remove some of the proud, traditional imagery of native Americans that have been used as a symbol of strength for so long? That is just my opinion anyway. I guess there could be other reasons why all native american imagery is being removed that I haven't heard of.
Welch & Westbury, those are 2 schools that I went to! I agree with the majority here, I understand the Redskin thing (and I think it should be changed), but Warriors & Rebels?
The problem with the use of the name "Warriors" is that a lot of sports teams have associated them also with Native American imagery and generally not examples of strength but as caricatures. For example the earlier cited Philadelphia Warriors. The organization dropped the Native American imagery and kept the name but I don't know if that was considered by HISD. The problem with the use of Native American imagery is that many names like "Redskins" were ethnic slurs and would be the equivalent of calling a team "The Darkies" and as stated the imagery isn't often flattering. This was Lamar HS's mascot. US society no longer tolerates imagery like this: or this Yet imagery like this is still used: At best though these names and images weren't ones that Native Americans had suggested and they are the ones who are asking for them to be removed. This is what makes the situation different from Notre Dame's use of the "Fighting Irish" and cartoon leprechaun because Notre Dame had been founded by Irish and for the most part Irish Americans are not asking for the removal of that imagery.
About time. As a Lamar alumnus, there was no reason for a public school to be called Redskins in 2014. And the defenders of that slur can't even pull the cards they use when they defend Dan Snyder. After all, Lamar's first coach wasn't a "Native American" of dubious origin and the school never established a "foundation" to benefit the lives of the people it "honored".