Arcadia High School Principal Martin Plourde's attempts at racial sensitivity over the school's use of an Apache mascot have not only left the mascot question unsettled, they have also incensed Los Angeles' Native American community.
Arcadia High School's Student Executive council convened behind closed doors last week to cast its vote on whether the Apache mascot is insulting to American Indians or is a tradition which should remain at the school. They present their vote to the School Board on Tuesday.
Arcadia High students are collecting toiletries and other items to aid members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe who were displaced by a massive wildfire. They have formed the "Apache to Apache" drive. Because the high school mascot is the Apache, students have developed a close relationship with the Native Americans who live on a reservation in Arizona.
Arcadia Unified School District to reconsider Apaches as mascot amid online petition drive, officials say it is on agenda. It is a revival of a 20-year-old controversy to remove Apaches name and imagery amid a nationwide movement to erase offensive emblems. Shayan Farooq, a 2013 graduate of Arcadia High School, felt the issue needed to be addressed. Farooq started a petition at Change.org. AUSD spokesperson Ryan Foran said the issue will be addressed in its list of priorities after reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic and recent sexual assault allegations involving current and former students who were video recorded, without consent, having sex. Controversy surrounding the Apaches mascot dates back two decades when Native American activists protested the Apache Joe mascot at Arcadia school board meetings in 1999. Then Principal Martin Plourde sought the White Mountain Apache Tribe's blessing to use the imagery and tribal leaders approved, but many students at Alchesay High School (Arcadia High School's sister school on Apache reservation) found the mascot offensive and urged Plourde to change it. 2018 Arcadia High School graduate Yumei Lin is leading a Facebook group to change the emblem.
As Assemblyman Tim Leslie sang his Arcadia High School alma mater school song, the State Assembly on June 5th rejected a bill that would bar California public Schools from using Native-American names for their mascots.
Despite pressure from Native American representatives to switch mascots in the interest of cultural sensitivity, the Apache will remain as Arcadia High School's mascot, student and school leaders decided.
A member of the White Mountain Apache Tribal Council in Arizona said Friday the Council still accepts the use of the "Apache" nickname by Arcadia High School, despite a local Native American activist's request to condemn it.