Pomo Indians win, change mascot’s name

The Pomo Nation in Lake County, Calif., has overcome a racist campaign mounted in the Kelseyville school district to overturn the righteous renaming of the Kelseyville High School mascot from “the Indians” to “the Knights.” At a Kelseyville H.S. school board meeting, attended by more than 100 people on both sides of the issue, the board voted 4-1 not to return to the Indian mascot name.

WW photo: Terri Kay

About 40 people spoke at this meeting, about two-thirds of them in support of the Pomo Nation. At the previous board meeting, with 350 in attendance, speakers were more evenly divided. Heavy discussion in online and print media between the two meetings showed the support for the racist initiative fading.

In response to a proposal by one of the racists for “a compromise,” dropping the mascot caricature but keeping the Indian name, Lisa Mammina, from Ukiah, added a touch of humor by saying she was confused about who were Indians and who were not. Pointing to those seated on the left, many wearing sweatshirts claiming “Always an Indian,” she said, “I think it’s really cool they (pointing to the Pomo people on the right) are not asking for their land back. All they’re asking for is their name back.”

“Are we going to teach our kids, ‘We’re going to use your name and we don’t give a darn whether you like it’? That’s not right,” said a 1945 Kelseyville H.S. grad, Bob Prather.

“As a Native American, I am saying that it’s not OK, it’s not for sale, and it’s definitely not to be used,” said Tera Duncan.

The name change was originally won only a couple of years ago, at the instigation of Clayton Duncan, a local Pomo. He brought letters from the five local tribal councils to the previous school board. Duncan was able to win enough support so that the mascot name was unanimously changed by the school board from “the Indians” to “the Knights.” Since then there has been a school board election campaign, with those supporting the racist initiative running candidates to get the change overturned.

The Pomos are also mounting a campaign to change the name of the town of Kelseyville, which is named after one of the settlers who was responsible for the enslavement, starvation and murder of many Pomos. His name is a constant reminder of the bloody history of slavery and massacres which were carried out against the Pomo and other Native nations by the white settlers.

They are also trying to get support for the promotion and distribution of a very moving documentary entitled “Hinthel Ganula.” This movie, which was produced locally, documents the struggles for survival of the Pomo people in northern California, focused in the region now called Lake County.

Clayton Duncan’s great-grandmother was one of the lone survivors of a particularly heinous event, “the Bloody Island Massacre.” During this criminal atrocity she hid in the shallow waters of the lake, breathing through the tulles. Still clutched by her dead mother, she watched the white soldiers murder every man, woman and child on the island.