Is there still a need to police offensive school nicknames?

More than 30 years ago, Naperville Central High School sought assistance from a bird that didn’t exist.

Caught in a firestorm of controversy over its nickname — a defamatory term for Native Americans — the District 203 school board bucked 50 years of tradition and created a new identity. Based on a student vote, the school became the home of the Redhawks.

A decade later, after a similarly tumultuous process, Huntley changed its nickname (the same as Naperville Central’s) to the Red Raiders.

Other schools followed suit in shifting away from Native American mascots, while holdouts remained.

Now, here comes the state legislature — again — to try ending the matter once and for all. Last week, the house voted to ban the use of Native American mascots, logos, etc., in schools from the elementary to the secondary level.

The bill next heads to the state senate for consideration, although pretty significant language is missing. There are no ramifications for not adhering to the bill. The legislators are counting on the honor system, I guess.

Is this level of fuss really necessary? With so many issues facing the state, including the massive pension debt spawning from these very school districts, why make this a priority?

Naperville Central and Huntley recognized the need for change. Morris and Lemont, two other high schools with Native American mascots, also retired their nicknames.

Seems the school boards are handling things just fine without government prodding. Why draw attention to the topic? For the few remaining holdouts, just leave them on their islands until they also (hopefully) change.

It happened in Major League Baseball with the Cleveland Guardians, and also with the Washington Commanders in the National Football League. Change even came to the University of Illinois. It may take time, but it happens.

What I’ll be interested to see is how this legislation affects a high school like Waubonsie Valley. Instead of swapping out the Warriors nickname, Principal Jason Stipp went the opposite direction and embraced it.

Stipp and his team have spent the last few years overhauling the school’s imagery to focus on honoring Chief Waubonsie and what the region meant to the Potawatomi people who called it home for hundreds of years.

Murals of Chief Waubonsie and the Potawatomi people adorn the walls of the school. QR codes encourage students to visit the Potawatomi Historical Center website and learn more about the history of the region.

While Native American advocates would prefer to retire the nickname — regardless of the intentions — at least the actions by the school administration have served as a teaching moment for the community.

Now, it seems, the goals of Stipp and Waubonsie Valley are about to butt heads with the goals of state legislators.

The rest of us can sit back and watch more time be wasted.