Last weekend, CNN and the Bangor Daily News featured the Commission on Civil Rights’ recommendation for an end to using Indian names as mascots by non-Indian schools, colleges and universities. Although the commission does not carry the weight of the law, Cyd Crue, president of the Illinois chapter of the National Coalition of Racism in Sports and the Media, said, “I think it’s going to make a big difference.”

Donald Soctomah, Passamaquoddy representative and a co-sponsor of LD 291, stated that “School is the one public institution where all people meet and mix. Researchers agree that children are free from racial bias and easily adjust to one another if brought together in the elementary grades.”

How does this connect with LD291? My answer is they both can make a “big difference” in honoring and understanding Native Americans and their culture. With this in mind, it is time to start in our education system and begin to “make a big difference” by replacing false stereotypes of Native Americans that have been grotesquely portrayed as school mascots across the nation with a mascot that does not represent any ethnic group. The next step in making a “big difference” is through history education in order to present a true picture of the proud Native American who has endured a long history of struggles of assimilation.

There is currently in the Maine Legislature LD291,An Act to Require Teaching of Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine’s Schools, presented by Donna Loring, Penobscot Nation representative. This legislation would require public and private schools in Maine to provide instruction on tribal governments and political systems, Maine Native American cultures, history, territories, economic systems and languages.

A very informal survey in a Portland doughnut shop revealed 7 out of 10 patrons who were quizzed about the tribes in Maine responded, ‘there are no Indian tribes in the state.” Upon hearing the results of this survey Loring decided that education had to be a key to understanding between Maine’s Native people and the rest of the population.

A key part of this legislation would be a seven-member commission that would include members representing tribal leaders from the four Maine Tribes: the Penobsot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Houlton Band of Maliseets and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs. Representation will also come from the education commissioner’s office, the State Board of Education and the chancellor of the University of Maine System. This commission would help set standards for curricula and decide on the necessary materials and teacher training.

Although LD291 is currently being worked on by Rep. Loring and the Department of Education to address a fiscal note on training and materials, it is important that this bill be passed as it is an opportunity in the educational arena that would be a positive step towards ending disrespectful, insensitive and offensive stereotyping of Native Americans.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights said it best on April 13 in their Commission Statement of the Use of Native American Images and Nicknames as Sports Symbols: “The stereotyping of any racial, ethnic, religious or other groups when promoted by our public education institutions, teach all students that stereotyping of minority groups is acceptable, a dangerous lesson in a diverse society. Schools have a responsibility to educate their students, they should not use their influence to perpetuate misrepresentations of any culture or people.”

Native Americans are not the caricatures that we see portrayed as mascots; we are instead a proud people who are still are here today despite having endured more than 500 years of cultural genocide and assimilation. Now is the time to begin to honor and respect Native Americans for their ethnic diversity and rich history; the best place to begin is in the elementary and secondary schools of Maine.

Please support LD291 when it is presented in the Legislature.

Betsy A. Tannian is a Penobscot tribal member and a graduate student at the University of Maine in the Social Work Program.