New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
“Dear Editor:
I am not originally from Dartmouth and I did not go to Dartmouth High. However, I have friends from Dartmouth, and I CHOSE to move here and raise my family. Dartmouth is a beautiful community full of great people! I now have three daughters in Dartmouth Public Schools. One child in elementary, one at the middle school and one at the high school.
They are great kids, who don’t have a prejudiced bone in their bodies. Not once have they, or me and my wife, ever thought of the Dartmouth High Indian logo as racist or inappropriate. We think of it as a symbol of strength, which it has been for many decades and I’m sure is a source of pride for many alumni.
So why is this an issue now after decades and decades of community pride and unity? Like many people, I work out of town and don’t have the opportunity to follow local school committee meetings as much as I’d like. So, I was very surprised to learn recently that there was a subcommittee looking into removing/changing the Dartmouth Indian logo! Why? Who’s offended by it? Who is leading this charge? What’s their motivation?
Honesty, I’m frustrated and annoyed by this new sense of self-induced outrage. The Indian logo hasn’t been deemed offensive for the past 10, 20, 30, 40 + years. So why now? The logo hasn’t changed, has it? To me it’s still the same respectful symbol of the strong indigenous people from our community and region…. that’s it. It’s pretty straightforward. Like most everything in life, things usually aren’t complicated, people make them complicated.
Unfortunately, there are always going to be people that want to make every molehill into a mountain, constantly looking for new things that offend them personally, so they can try to change our culture and feel somehow morality superior. It’s exhausting! If this topic hasn’t been a problem in Dartmouth for decades, then it shouldn’t be now. This also shouldn’t be a political issue. The Indian logo has been a symbol of cultural strength in Dartmouth for many decades, and no one needs to change it.
I am thankful for Selectman John Haran’s leadership and the Select Board’s support to allow Dartmouth voters to have input (via a non-binding referendum) on the spring election ballot this April 5th.
I encourage other parents that agree that this effort to remove the Indian logo is completely unnecessary
to join me in voting YES to preserve the Dartmouth Indian as a symbol of strength and unity!
Respectfully,
Michael Mattos.”
