Around New England

Massachusetts Town Hanging Onto Indian Nickname – For Now

July 12, 2020

Three recent graduates of the public high school in the northeastern Massachusetts town of Tewksbury have started an online petition to ditch Redmen as the school’s sports nickname – even though a local group of American Indians have supported keeping it.

The school’s sports teams are known as the Tewksbury Redmen, a nickname that was once somewhat common in Massachusetts but now is becoming hard to find.

Opponents of the nickname say it’s racist.

Supporters of the nickname say it honors American Indians and their culture.

As recently as 2016, when a discussion about changing the nickname took place, the Greater Lowell Indian Cultural Association issued a statement supporting the school’s mascot as long as it is “presented in a positive, respectful and historically accurate manner,” according to The Lowell Sun.

The newspaper reported that it could not reach a spokesman for the group late this week.