#Missouri town torn over push to oust school’s ‘Savages’ mascot

A former student at a Missouri high school is leading a push to change the school’s longtime nickname, saying the Savannah Savages and its Indian mascot must go.

Amanda Barr, who graduated from Savannah High School in 2002, said the school’s mascot and team moniker looms large over Savannah, where it’s depicted on a 152-foot water tower and appears in various forms on several business, including Savage Lanes bowling alley and Savage Service Center auto shop, the Kansas City Star reports.

“You literally can’t miss it if you drive through town,” Barr, 36, told the newspaper. “It’s everywhere.”

The team’s black and gold colors and an Indian likeness are also on full display at the school, where messages of “Savage Pride” greets students on an entrance sign and at a football gate. “Savage Nation” is also painted on announcer’s booth at the school’s outdoor track, the newspaper reports.

But Barr, who now lives in Montana, started a change.org petition in June after realizing she was raised in an area once inhabited by various Native American tribes, including the Kickapoo, Osage, Kaw and Sioux.

“I am ashamed to say I went to this high school, that I used to belong to a community that would denigrate people who have been victims of oppression in this way,” Barr wrote in the petition, which had been signed by more than 6,600 people as of early Monday.

While removing the team name won’t “change history,” Barr thinks such a move will impact how past and current students at the school see their community, which is 99 percent white, census data shows.

More than 30 people spoke at a Savannah R-III School District board meeting last month on the issue, including residents both in support of removing the name and those who want to see it stay, the newspaper reports.

No official action was taken at the July 14 meeting, but the Savannah school board is now “listening with real interest,” district spokeswoman Jess Gillett told the newspaper.

“It hasn’t ever come before the school board before,” Gillett said. “It has been something that has been talked about unofficially in the community. It gets brought up every couple of years. Somebody will say, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about changing your mascot?’ That’s usually as far as it goes and it stops there.”

While previous pushes for change to the school’s mascot that reportedly dates back to 1926 have been unsuccessful, Gillett said the current effort has a “whole support group” behind it.

A counter-petition, meanwhile, aims to keep the school’s “beloved” mascot as is. As of early Monday, it had been signed by more than 2,500 people.

“It has been an icon for our community for as long as most of us can remember,” the petition reads. “A savage can be from any race or land. You may hear that is racist … but it has no bad intentions towards anyone or any race.”

A man who attended the school and said he was part Sioux, meanwhile, is among the Savannah residents who don’t want to see the Savages nickname go, the Star reports.

“I think it is totally outrageous,” Steve Goben, a 69-year-old Vietnam vet, told the newspaper. “Everybody’s wanting to change history. This political correctness is nothing but a bunch of bull. It’s not offensive to me. What about Africa? Africa is known for being full of savages. You going to change Africa, too?”