Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
Tulsa World Reporter
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A listening session to solicit feedback on a branding redesign for two Tulsa Public Schools secondary sites drew frustration and questions from attendees Tuesday night.
“What are you going to do when one person doesn’t like this rebranding?” a man shouted out. “Are we going to do this all over again in six months? Somebody somewhere is going to be offended no matter what.”
About 30 people came to Tuesday night’s listening session about the potential rebranding at Central and Webster middle and high schools in light of a new board policy approved Sept. 8 that prohibits TPS sites from using branding elements that incorporate racial, ethnic, religious, cultural or gender-based stereotypes.
The board approved a pair of recommendations at that same Sept. 8 meeting specifically calling for revisions to the branding elements used by Central and Webster middle and high schools. Central’s mascot is the Braves, and Webster’s is the Warriors.
Any changes to a school’s branding elements would be subject to approval by the board of education. A second listening session is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 28 in the Selman Room of TPS’ Education Service Center.
The policy was drafted in consultation with TPS’ Title VI Indian Education Parent Committee and after Superintendent Ebony Johnson had conversations with TPS’ Indigenous secondary students; student groups at both Webster and Central; and leaders from the Kiowa Tribe and Cherokee, Muscogee and Osage nations.
About two-thirds of Tuesday night’s attendees were alumni of the two schools. Several shared their irritation about the new policy and questioned the decision to implement it.
“So that arrowhead with ‘TC’ on it offends somebody somewhere,” Central graduate Kirby Counts said. “I can assure you that if I walk around Tulsa long enough, I’ll find someone who’s offended by the color red.”
Central’s symbols include an arrowhead with an interlocking “TC” and a replica of a sculpture, “Appeal to the Great Spirit,” which depicts a Sioux chief in prayer on horseback. The original was made in 1909 by Cyrus Dallin and is currently at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A replica has been at Central High School for more than a century.
One of Webster’s logos is a diamond around a drawing of a Native American wearing a single feather and their hair in braids.
“That diamond represents us being a diamond in the rough,” Webster alumna Laura Undernehr said. “We’re not ‘river rats,’ we’re diamonds in the rough. With that in mind, you are offending all of us. We have had pride in that logo for years. If the Indian has to be adjusted, you could have come to us and said, ‘Can we adjust this Indian?’
“We’re generations of Warriors.”
The policy does not require any school to change its current mascot, a point that Johnson and district officials repeated multiple times during Tuesday’s session.
“Let me be clear,” Johnson said. “The purpose of us being here in the room today is so that we accurately honor the depiction of the Warriors and Braves so we are actually honoring the culture. That’s the whole reason we’re in the room. We’re not in the room for anything other than that.”
That desire to properly honor the cultures of the district’s Indigenous students was referenced by some of the policy’s supporters during Tuesday night’s discussion.
One of the few people at Tuesday’s session not wearing attire in support of Webster or Central, Erin Parker is a TPS alumna, parent and Indian Education resource adviser. She has previously publicly shared that she was bullied as a TPS student for being Indigenous.
At Tuesday night’s session, the Absentee Shawnee, Cherokee, Kickapoo and Kiowa woman said part of her concern is that neither of the schools’ logos are an accurate depiction of the tribes where the schools are located or the tribes with the largest student enrollment within the district.
As of January, 78% of TPS’ Indigenous students are either Cherokee or Muscogee.
Webster’s west Tulsa attendance area is entirely within the Muscogee Nation reservation, but Parker noted the braids and feather included in the school’s logo are more representative of Plains regalia.
Central’s campus is within the boundaries of the Osage Nation, and portions of its attendance area are within the Muscogee and Cherokee reservations.
“As an individual Native person who grew up in her culture, … I don’t feel like these represent me,” Parker said. “I don’t feel like this represents our Native students.
“Every tribe is different. If you want to do something with the Warriors and the land you’re on, then you need to hear from the Muscogee Nation. They have their own warriors, their own regalia, language and traditions. Same with the Osage Nation. That’s my main issue when I look at that (the logos). It’s representing something that you’re not trying to represent.”
lenzy.krehbiel-burton@tulsaworld.com
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Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
Tulsa World Reporter
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