Arapahoe High School Warriors logo

On the one hand, as we posted here yesterday, a legislator is proposing to cut treaty-mandated funding for Native students at Fort Lewis College in southwestern Colorado.

But another lawmaker, from the Denver suburb of Aurora, is considering bill that aims to deal with up to 20 high school mascots deemed “questionable” by Darius Lee Smith.

Smith, who is Navajo, heads Denver’s Anti-Discrimination Office, but he’s working on Sen. Suzanne Williams’ bill as a private citizen, Joe Hanel of the Durango (Colo.) herald reports here.

Rather than banning macots outright, the bill would urge schools to use them as a teaching tool.

For instance, Colorado’s Arapahoe High School (Aurora is in Arapahoe County) uses the Warriors as its mascot. As Hanel writes:

The principal went to the Arapaho tribe in Wyoming and engaged the tribal council. The council not only gave permission to keep using the nickname, but it commissioned an Arapaho artist to draw a new logo.

Williams’ bill would encourage other Colorao schools to follow that model.

She hasn’t introduced it yet, but is waiting for the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs to discuss it, which it plans to do next week.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs, Colorado Legislature, D-Aurora, Denver Anti-Discriminatino Office, Fort Lewis College, Indian mascots, Native American news, Northern Arapaho, Sen. Suzanne Williams