Last issue’s feature “Letting the Indian Go” revisited the 1989 mascot change from the Indians to the Red-Tailed Hawks. The article included voices on both sides of the mascot issue. Resistant to the mascot change is George Cagwin, the current President of the Tam Alumni Association, who stated that the change wasn’t justified. Sacheen Littlefeather and other Native American activists asserted that the Indian mascot exploited their people’s culture. In the letter below Mill Valley resident Tim Amyx responds to the article.
Dear Tam News:
As a Tam alum from the class of 1977, and a one time writer for the Tam News (1975-1976), I was appreciative and engaged by your article and editorial about the name change of our old mascot from the Indian to the Red-Tail Hawks. The editorial certainly supported the name change, while the article appeared to play it down the middle. Fellow Alum (About 20 years ahead of me) George Cagwin spoke on behalf of the Indian Mascot and presented an argument that emphasized history and tradition. The Tam News editorial correctly pointed out that tradition alone does not validate a mascot, in particular if the tradition is one of racism.
As a long time historian of Mill Valley, Tam High School, and the Native American Indians, I would contend that the Indian presented by Tam High for 82 years was one of pride and honor. The Tam Indian began its tradition in 1908, just 32 years after Crazy Horse defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn, and 18 years after the atrocities of Wounded Knee. There was a growing sympathy and respect for the American Indians.
The Tam Indian has always been a symbol of strength, honor, and courage. Perhaps the Tam Indian was intended to be a symbol of the Marin Indian tribes, the Pomo’s and Miwoks. These local tribes were traditionally less war like, as were the plains Indians, and their images might have been perceived as a little more pacifistic. Inaccurate as it may have been, The Tamalpais High School Indian emblem over the years represented the look of the plains tribes.
If I were to jump to a bottom line, it would be that the boisterous Native American Indians who object to the Tam Indian as a mascot are missing the point. By being thin-skinned, victocratic, race-bating, and whiny PC progressives they are making an issue out of skin color and culture that is either a non-issue for most rank and file descendent of American Indians, or, they actually appreciate with pride the Indian Mascot.
-Tim Amyx, Mill Valley