My policy externship here at the ACLU of Maine was an eye-opening experience in more ways than I could have imagined.

Because I consumed a lot of media, I knew that the ACLU of Maine's staff could use some extra helping hand in light of the enormous challenges to our individual rights and civil liberties.  I also knew coming here that the ACLU is the guardian of our civil liberties. But it did not fully comprehend and appreciate the enormous amount of work that goes into the fight to preserve our civil liberties until I began my externship here.

Every time civil liberties issues came up at the state and federal level, I participated in staff meetings to analyze those issues, plan action, and share insights. Throughout my spring externship here, I did legal research so that the staff here could respond – whether it was about Internet privacy, Voter ID, anti-immigrant bills, random drug testing bills, etc.

As a third-year law student at Maine Law, I chose to do my externship with ACLU of Maine because I knew that ACLU was at the forefront of the fight to protect and preserve our individual rights and civil liberties, which I deeply cared about as well. Yet my externship here made me realize what that fight means in practice.

Through my legal research, attending ACLU staff meetings, attending legislature work sessions, writing blogs on current civil liberties issues, drafting testimony before the legislature, attending racial equity meetings, etc. I came to realize that what ACLU is doing is more than ideology. It's about making sure that individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States are extended to everyone regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation and economic status.  This, I believe, is the America that we should strive to build and ask of each other.

During my externship, I worked on several bills – and was so glad to see the people of Maine reject some really bad ideas.  I saw the defeat of a bill that sought to punish local municipalities that do not prioritize federal immigration law enforcement over their local law enforcement priorities. I saw the defeat of bills that sought to perpetuate the war on drugs at the expense of individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution. I saw Maine legislators reject bills that were simply purported solutions in search of a problem, at the expense of taxpayers – such as the FGM bill that would further stereotypes while fixing a problem that is nonexistent in Maine. The list goes on.

I also saw Maine get so close to passing a bill that would protect Mainers’ Internet privacy against profit-seeking whims of powerful telecommunications giants and Internet Service Providers.

To me, this externship at ACLU of Maine was more than a practical experience to fulfill my graduation requirements. It was a life-changing experience. It equipped me with the tools that I needed to continue to participate in the political process and the fight to preserve civil liberties that have made America a beacon of values such as justice and equal treatment for all.

Going forward, I plan on closely following everything that is going to be happening at the State House in Augusta! I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to play a small role in the important work that the ACLU of Maine is doing.

The Wells-Ogunquit school district has taken an important step toward retiring its Native American mascot and ending years of discrimination.  On May 24, 2018, an advisory committee recommended retiring the Native American imagery associated with its team name, the Warriors. The mascot currently features a Native American man’s head with a feathered headdress and bare chest, and a large “W” with a feather attached. Of the 25 advisory committee members, 17 voted in favor of ending the Native American mascot.

A harmful and discriminatory tradition

Studies have shown that Native American mascots lower “the self-esteem of American Indian students.” According to research, images such as Chief Wahoo (the mascot of the Cleveland Indians) decreased self-esteem even more than exposure to other negative Indian stereotypes. Jordan LaBouff, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maine, has agreed that stereotypical Native American imagery can harm Native American students.

Consistent with these findings, the United States Commission on Civil Rights has called to end Native American mascots in non-native schools because those mascots teach that it is acceptable to stereotype minority students. And in 2005, the American Psychiatric Association publicly called for “the immediate retirement of all American Indian mascots” because they instill “misleading, and too often, insulting images of American Indians.”

School-sanctioned Native American mascots also discriminate against Native American youth. For example, a recent case from a Maine court found discrimination against a Native American employee based on the employer’s messages of harmful stereotypes. In that case, the supervisor called the employee “Big Indian,” and called a female co-worker a “squaw” when she wore a braid.

Righting a wrong

Wells has faced complaints about its Native American mascot over the years, and the issue returned to the public spotlight after a football game last fall.

Amelia Tuplin, a member of the Micmac tribe, was visiting Wells to watch her son, a quarterback for Lisbon High School, play against the Wells team. She was accompanied by her other children—all of whom are Micmac. On the sidelines, Amelia saw the Wells mascot emblazoned across the media tower on the football field. She also saw Wells fans wearing headdresses and Native-American-style face paint, making whooping sounds and performing a mock chant.

After the game, Amelia spoke out against the Native American mascot and the other stereotypes that mocked sacred practices in the name of team spirit. Although the school originally found no misconduct, it later formed an advisory committee to consider the mascot. After discussions with indigenous leaders, public comment, and a letter from the ACLU of Maine, the advisory committee took the important step of recommending an end to the Native American Mascot.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Martin Luther King’s famous quote applies to the history of Native American mascots in Maine’s schools. In the past, many Maine schools had Native American mascots. Recognizing their harmful effects, schools have retired those mascots one by one. Now there are only two: Wells and Skowhegan. And with the recommendation of the Wells advisory committee, that number should soon dwindle down to one. If and when the Wells school committee acts to make the recommendation final, there will be just one school—Skowhegan—with the discriminatory mascot in place.

As Wells bends toward justice, Skowhegan should take note.