October 13, 2015

Testimony of Jared Hautamaki on American Indian Heritage Month

Boozhoo. My name is Jared Hautamaki and I am a enrolled member of a tribal nation. I am a citizen of
the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of northern Michigan. I am also an attorney who has
spent nearly a decade on presidential appointments to various diversity and diversity in education
entities in the American Bar Association. I am the past president and a current board member of the
Native American Bar Association of Washington DC. More importantly, I am the parent of a
kindergartener at Highland Elementary. And I wanted to take this opportunity to comment on American
Indian Heritage item on your agenda today.
On September 11 as I was dropping my son off at Highland I noticed the principal wearing a burgundy
and gold polo shirt. On the sleeve of the shirt was a slur that has been held in the federal courts as
being inherently offensive which resulted in the invalidation of the DC NFL team's trademark. Several
other staff members, including my son's teacher, were also wearing team merchandise, some of which
featured the slur and some of which featured the logo, a stereotyped image of a Plains Indian. I sent an
email to the principal and this board explaining that someone in a position of educational authority
should be aware of the detrimental psychological effects that repeated studies have shown that Native
mascots and such logos have on not just Native students, but on all students.
In 2001, this board had the foresight to ban Montgomery County schools from using Natives as mascots.
Since then the issues surrounding Native mascots have continued to play out not only with the DC NFL
team, but Major League Baseball teams in Atlanta and Cleveland and numerous college teams has
continued to play itself out in the press. But more importantly, our collective consciousness, our
empathy for indigenous peoples has also continued to expand. In 2010, the United States endorsed the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Article 15 of the Declaration recognizes
the right of indigenous peoples to the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories and
aspirations which shall be appropriately reflected in education and public information and places an
obligation on the governments to take effective measures, in consultation and cooperation with the
indigenous peoples concerned, to combat prejudice and eliminate discrimination and to promote
tolerance, understanding and good relations among indigenous peoples and all other segments of
society . Article 22 of the Declaration provides that the governments shall take measures, in
conjunction with indigenous peoples, to ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full
protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination.
The Montgomery County Public Schools website states that clothing that offends or disrupts learning is
inappropriate. Given that the invalidation of the DC NFL team trademark has been upheld as being
inherently offensive I would request that this board take the next step and amend the dress code to
prohibit both staff and students from wearing sports team merchandise that contain not only the DC
NFL team name and logo, but any sports team merchandise that is similarly offensive. I can hardly
imagine a situation where students or staff were allowed to wear other racial slurs on their chests,
sleeves and heads. Why Native students should continue to suffer this indignity is inexcusable.
All children deserve an educational environment free from racism and racist imagery. Montgomery
County and the DC area has a large community of Native Americans of many different tribal cultures and
backgrounds given the employees of the Indian Health Service in Rockville, the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the Department of Interior downtown and the numerous tribal nation offices on Capitol Hill.

There is empirical evidence showing that Native mascots both harm the self-esteem of Native children
and cause an increased likelihood of non-Native children to adopt racial stereotypes across the board.
If you want to honor American Indian heritage this month I would urge you to lead DC area public
schools in protecting all students by eliminating this harmful imagery and banning the wearing of team
merchandise that promote Native mascots from the educational environment.
Miigwich. Thank you for listening and allowing me to address you on this serious issue.
Jared Hautamaki
3002 Blueridge Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20902
(202)569-0340