Greetings!
During this time of quarantine we wanted to keep you informed that our work continues as we move forward by holding weekly conference calls.
Some time ago we sent an email sharing that the Coalition of Native and Allies (CNA) had formed in response to the PA Human Relations Commission ruling that Neshaminy School District could keep the use of the term R*dsk*ns. The district appealed it for its requirement to not use Native American imagery and to educate their students about stereotypes.
We are writing you now to update you since most of life has come to a significant pause. We have reached out to the PA Human Relations Commission to offer them the program: "Building Greater Understanding about Native American History" that many of you have seen.
We are also getting organized to reach out to the faith community of the Neshaminy neighborhoods. When life is no longer in crises mode, we hope to connect with
Southern Bucks County legislators for their support. We plan to reach out to Governor Wolf as well.
Our goal is to build a larger coalition that will enable us to create, propose and pass legislation in Pennsylvania similar to Maine's law that outlaws Race Based Mascots. With the harmful use of Native mascotry being so widespread in schools across Pennsylvania, we feel it is imperative to protect all Native families from facing the burden of fighting this act of institutionalized racism alone. It is absolutely unacceptable that Native mascotry is the only exception to school districts' policies against racism, discrimination and harassment in many districts.
Stay tuned:
In August the Pendle Hill Conference Center will be hosting a four day conference Working Toward Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples during which we will be offering a action workshop for the mascot issue.
We'd like to share our mission statement:
Coalition of Natives and Allies (CNA) is a cross-cultural collaboration of Native Americans and allies who value cultural diversity and respect for all peoples. Through advocacy and education, CNA raises awareness to the harm caused by race-based sports mascots, and teaches the truth about Native American histories, and modern day Native issues. By highlighting the bias and prejudice race-based stereotypes cause, CNA strives to end the harmful use of Native American misrepresentation in schools.
I acknowledge that I live and work on Lenape territory, Lenapehoking
Comments