Legislators considering mascot bill

By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post

BRIMFIELD – The Brimfield Indians are being threatened again.

A bill making its way through the Illinois House of Representatives would prohibit school districts from using Native American mascots for their sports teams. That includes Brimfield, where the Indians nickname has been in place for at least 100 years.
Brimfield Superintendent Chad Jones said his district is preparing for a ban but prefers the status quo.

“We try to be proactive in the fact that we’re proud of our mascot, but if it’s something the lawmakers in Springfield take from us, we’ll make accommodations for it,” Jones said Monday. “But I think most people in Brimfield will tell you we enjoy being the Indians.”

In an online message to the Brimfield community, Jones encouraged those who enjoy the nickname – and those who want to change it – to notify state legislators.

Jones’ message was posted Monday on the district website and Facebook page. It included a link to a state form that registered opinions regarding the bill, HB 1237, in advance of a House Education Policy Committee meeting scheduled earlier this week.
According to Jones, the bill specifies “Indians” as one of the nicknames that would be prohibited.

The bill gives school districts a grace period in which they could use Native American-related uniforms and other materials if they were purchased before the law takes effect. The grace period would end in September 2028.

Rep. Maurice West of Rockford is the lead sponsor of the bill. Other sponsors are Reps. Laura Faver Dias of Grayslake, Nicolle Grasse of Arlington Heights and Bob Morgan of Deerfield. All are Democrats.

“There are indigenous young people who look at these Native American mascots and imagery and feel some type of way about it,” West told WCIA-TV in Champaign. “It makes them feel objectified.”

West also sponsored a bill about five years ago that would have required schools with Native American mascots to obtain renewable written consent from any tribe within 500 miles. That bill went nowhere, but administrators at affected schools took note, according to Jones.

“It’s kind of always been on our radar for anybody who has a Native American mascot at their school,” he told The Weekly Post.

“It’s become a real thing now and we’re going to have to make our voice known, but if they say we can’t use it anymore, we’re kind of stuck.”

Some school districts might have to spend at least $250,000 to comply, according to Jones. But he suggested his district has been foresighted about modifying its mascot approach as Native American names and images have come under more scrutiny.

A student dressed in Native American regalia at Brimfield games was common years ago. But the current athletics logo is a capital-letter B, accompanied by a depiction of a feather. If the district had to change to a more anodyne nickname – Redhawks, for example – the logo still could fit, according to Jones.

One of the few prominent places where “Indians” is emblazoned at Brimfield is on high school baseball uniforms. Those wouldn’t be cheap to replace but probably could be done within the grace period, according to Jones.

Still, he plans to recommend the School Board retain the current mascot, in part as a tribute to those who first inhabited the Brimfield area thousands of years ago.

“I would say most people who have lived here most of their life say, ‘Hey, we’re the Brimfield Indians,’” Jones said. “Our history is our history. We had Native Americans who lived here, and it goes back a long, long time.”