LONGVIEW — As the Kalama School Board makes plans to continue discussions about changing its high school mascot, the Chinooks, an increasingly vocal cadre of locals are beginning to push back.
Last month, the Kalama School Board committed to forming a committee of community members to explore possible changes to their mascot and nickname. The formation of that group is expected to take at least a couple months.
That decision came after Columbia River High School in Vancouver retired its Chieftains mascot following a unanimous school board vote. Likewise, the change at Columbia River was made just months after the Washington Football Team dropped a racial slur from its official name.
The ongoing conversation in Kalama surrounds the fate of a caricature mascot, Charlie Chinook, but not necessarily the nickname of Chinooks itself. Over the years the original cartoon rendition of “Charlie” has been toned down considerably, most notably by removing a scalp from his hand. However, it has retained some of the markers that made the image controversial in the first place, such as the big nose and buck teeth.
Officially, the Kalama School District no longer utilizes even the modified Charlie Chinook logo. Last month the image was removed from the WIAA website and a mural featuring the character was recently removed from the high school gymnasium.
“The tribe has told us outright that they do not like the image,” Kalama School Board superintendent Eric Nerison said during last month’s pivotal school board meeting. “They have expressed repeatedly that they are ok and feel good about us using the Chinook name and that it’s not a bad thing. They just don’t like the characterization of a Chinook Indian in Charlie’s image.”
That official move away from “Charlie Chinook” has done little to alleviate the heartburn of Kalama alumni who insist they are unjustly losing part of their history. Darren Ipock, a 2003 graduate of Kalama High School, has recently assumed a lead role as some members of the community strive to save their mascot.
Ipock has even gone as far as making T-shirts for the cause.
“On my part, it’s heritage, it’s tradition, it’s pride,” Ipock said. “I mean, growing up if you had a letterman’s jacket and it had Charlie on the back of it you were there. You were on the level.”
Interestingly, Ipock is the son of school board member Russ Ipock and the topic has been addressed with spirited discussion in private between the father and son. The elder Ipock seems to believe Kalama should avoid the trouble altogether and continue to distance itself from the logo in all iterations. But, as sons are prone to do, Darren disagrees entirely.
“Basically what he said was, we either get rid of Charlie or we lose government funding, because it’s a ‘Do what the government says’ kind of deal,” Darren Ipock said, likening the situation to blackmail. “I said this is B.S. so I went out and had these shirts made.”
The way he sees it, the objections to Charlie Chinook are unfounded and indicative of a society that’s become obsessed with sensitivity.
“Everybody is bending over backwards and trying to make everyone’s feelings recognized. We’ve got to look out for the whiners. Not me. I’m done with that. We need to stand our ground,” Ipock added. “I thought I’d take the first shot and go and have these shirts made.”
But with legislation looming on the horizon at the state level and a shifting tide in public perception, the future for Native American mascots promises to be a difficult road to navigate. Those difficulties are already well known to Toledo High School and the local Cowlitz Tribe.
The Cowlitz Tribe and Toledo have essentially had a handshake agreement for decades over the school’s use of “Indians” as their mascot. However, that arrangement has come under increased scrutiny in light of developments both recent and stale.
In 2006, the Cowlitz Tribe wrote a letter to Toledo High School that endorsed the use of the name “Indians” for its sports teams. According to Toledo superintendent Chris Rust, over the next few years Toledo coaches carried around a copy of the letter to share if anyone had any questions or concerns.
The letter wound up well-worn by a combination of time and use. Lately, though, even that figurative stamp of approval has faded.
“I thought we should have an updated letter and the tribe said, ‘You know, times have changed and we’re not willing to give you that letter,'” Rust said. “That’s when I invited them to participate with us in taking a look at what we were doing and helping us do better.”
Since then, Toledo has done away with their costume mascot that students would wear and ceased the practice of having the pep band play the “Tomahawk Chop” chant at games, among other amendments. Most recently, the school also removed the three oversized Chief Wahoo signs that adorned the baseball field.
It’s those same kinds of changes that have community members 30 miles south on Interstate-5 so upset.
“We do have a small percentage of people in town who lean more towards being sensitive. They’re the same people you probably see on the sidewalk holding a BLM sign up and they’re pale white as Casper,” Ipock said. “But the majority of Kalama stands where I stand saying there’s nothing wrong with the Chinook mascot.”
Much like in Kalama, school officials in Toledo anticipate strong pushback from the community if it ever comes time to change their mascot and iconography entirely. In a small town like Toledo, or Kalama, alumni and transplant locals alike understandably consider those mascots to be an essential part of their own history and identity.
“Some people say it’s only a matter of time and other people say over my dead body,” Toledo athletic director Grady Fallon said last month in the wake of the change at Columbia River High School. “I don’t think it was meant to offend anybody, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not offensive.”
Likewise, superintendent Rust acknowledges that the school district must make an effort to set a positive example for their students going forward.
“The way I’ve explained it to folks in our community is that we have chosen to have a group of people as our mascot and that brings with it an extra level of responsibility,” Rust said.
That sentiment is one area where the Central 2B League rivals can find common ground. Back in Kalama, Nerison noted that there has never been a formal decision on the future of the Chinook mascot, whether it be “Charlie” or some other iteration, perhaps a fish.
“We need to see it from beginning to end,” Nerison said. “We’ve had even long-time Kalama folks who say we need to change our mascot so that some other people aren’t telling us what it has to be when we change it. I think now is the time to finish it.”
