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PNG mascot talk not going away

austingirl

By austingirl
in Daily Texan

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austingirl

austingirl 2191

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For those not from southeast TX, the rundown is that in 1925 Port Neches-Groves ISD (or whatever it was called then) decided that their mascot would be the Indians. Every school in the district, not just the high school, has as its mascot some kind of variation on the theme. The high school is called The Reservation, etc. In 1979, the district got a certificate from the Cherokee Nation calling them "ambassadors of goodwill". Every time the question comes up of whether or not they should change their mascot, they bring up this certificate.

Well, last week, the Cherokee Nation formally rescinded that certificate and asked them to change their mascot. As you can imagine, people are losing their shit. This is the superintendent's response:

Quote

 

PNG Community,

It seems that recently our school district has been repeatedly challenged by natural and man-made disasters. I'm also certain that many are aware of the recent strides and efforts of individuals to create tolerance and acceptance within our country and society. The irony behind those efforts is that the Port Neches-Groves Independent School District has received them in the form of written and verbal attacks. It seems that our students, staff and community have come under criticism and ridicule for the 1925 decision to choose the Indian as a mascot. After many years as the Indians, the Cherokee Nations certified and recognized Port Neches-Groves as "Ambassadors of Goodwill." Sadly, today July 8, 2020, we received notification to revoke the October 1979 certificate. However, it is important to remember that our PNG schools belong to the PNG COMMUNITY and any future decisions on this topic will also belong to the community.

Like thousands of schools across the nation, PNG has been working tirelessly to find a way to fight the Covid battle and safely resume a traditional educational setting for our students. We will continue to focus on creating an environment that is easy and safe for our PNG students and families.

Sincerely,

Mike Gonzales

 

Of course, now all I'm hearing is "we don't need their permission anyway" and "the chief now is a leftist Democrat and I don't think he represents everyone in the Cherokee nation". This is a Beaumont Enterprise article about the superintendent's response. He and everyone else there are doubling down. For the record, I don't think they will change the mascot - there would be actual riots if that happened. But this is as close to change as I've ever seen.

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WBT

WBT 20652

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I was at the state championship game where PNG completely fille dup their side of the dome.  IIRC rape fingers ran for 3 TDs.

/csb

Do the twirlers/drill team still wear the headdresses?

Edited by WBT
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deadshank

deadshank 24653

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25 minutes ago, Hpara759 said:

so I'm guessing some of you would be in favor of Robstown changing their mascot?

or maybe even Hereford (even though their's is in reference to a cow)?

I used to have a Robstown HS Cotton Picker Football tee shirt that I purchased during one of my many forays into the area.

/csb

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'stache

'stache 21836

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6 minutes ago, deadshank said:

I used to have a Robstown HS Cotton Picker Football tee shirt that I purchased during one of my many forays into the area.

/csb

Makes me cringe, but I think historically there wasn't chattel slaves picking cotton in the area but paid workers including Latinos. They can probably get away with keeping it with an understanding that they'll have to keep explaining it to people which seems like a pain in the ass.

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deadshank

deadshank 24653

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9 minutes ago, 'stache said:

Makes me cringe, but I think historically there wasn't chattel slaves picking cotton in the area but paid workers including Latinos. They can probably get away with keeping it with an understanding that they'll have to keep explaining it to people which seems like a pain in the ass.

Meh.  My mom's side of the family was cotton picking sharecroppers in Memphis, TX.   

Sure, I guess there is some explaining to do.  

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Bevo

Bevo 13596

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3 hours ago, Kyrie Eleison said:

graduated from there, 3 sport letterman, all-district LB back in the day...to this day i still bleed purple.

but it's time...it's been time.  it won't happen, but it's time.

Before my time, but PNG played some team in the Astrodome in 1979 and they sold out the stadium. I remember hearing that the whole town pretty much shutdown for the game.

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austingirl

austingirl 2191

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3 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Before my time, but PNG played some team in the Astrodome in 1979 and they sold out the stadium. I remember hearing that the whole town pretty much shutdown for the game.

They still shut down every Friday night during football season. It truly is just like Friday Night Lights.

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41 minutes ago, The Ace of Aces said:

And in northeast Texas Tyler ISD is once again meeting Thursday about what to do with the Robert E. Lee High School name and Rebels mascot. 

Tyler Lee is not the Rebels

 

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The Ace of Aces

The Ace of Aces 5194

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41 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

They are the red raiders

 

39 minutes ago, slorch said:

Tyler Lee is not the Rebels

 

D'oh, what the hell. I grew up close to Tyler, saw them play almost every year. No idea why I reverted to the old name decades before I was even born. Thank you both for correcting me. 

Edited by The Ace of Aces
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Kyrie Eleison

Kyrie Eleison 9312

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41 minutes ago, Bevo said:

I think they were playing West Orange Stark. The crowd was amazing.

nope...WOS wouldn't have been a playoff game.  WOS would've been a non-district game prior to 1982 before WOS moved up a classification and a district game after that.  they're only 20 miles that separate the schools, and it would've been either at home or not.

most likely, the game you're talking about would've been one of either Houston Kashmere, San Antonio Churchill, or Spring Branch Stratford as those are the three teams we routinely would meet when we were on our run to either state or state semifinals in 1974 through 1979.

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RDCanecutter

RDCanecutter 26462

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1 minute ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

What they ought to do is call up the Alabama-Coushatta and see if they will play ball. What do the Cherokee have to with the mouth of the Neches river anyway? Just get your Rez Pass from another tribe, yo. 

(Speaking cynically here.)

 

Why you gotta bother all these people that weren't even originally in Texas? My 5 seconds of Google work told me that there were extinct cannibals in the the PNG. You've got actual cannibals, Atakapa, supposedly extinct. Fearsome, yet unlikely to complain.

 

(hold on, Google tells me there's a dude claiming to be Atakapa been suin errbody about errthing. Y'all are on your own.)

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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5 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Why you gotta bother all these people that weren't even originally in Texas? My 5 seconds of Google work told me that there were extinct cannibals in the the PNG. You've got actual cannibals, Atakapa, supposedly extinct. Fearsome, yet unlikely to complain.

 

(hold on, Google tells me there's a dude claiming to be Atakapa been suin errbody about errthing. Y'all are on your own.)

Yeah, see the certificate's the thing and the A-C's are the only one's punching cards in East Texas these days. If they won't play ball the Louisiana Coushattas might -- Jack Abramoff set those two bands against each other in the squabble over casinos back in the day. 

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RDCanecutter

RDCanecutter 26462

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1 minute ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Yeah, see the certificate's the thing and the A-C's are the only one's punching cards in East Texas these days. If they won't play ball the Louisiana Coushattas might -- Jack Abramoff set those two bands against each other in the squabble over casinos back in the day. 

How much of a... consideration... are they paying for a certificate?

Because i can get you a certificate, Dude. There are ways. You don't want to know. I can get you a certificate by 3:30 this afternoon.

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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8 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

 

 

(hold on, Google tells me there's a dude claiming to be Atakapa been suin errbody about errthing. Y'all are on your own.)

Your honor, the litigant you see before you bringing this suit is vexatious and a menace to our body of law. In fact, one might say he has found a new and modern way to practice the same foul deeds as his savage ancestors. Yes, your honor, this man is a White Collar Cannibal. 

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RDCanecutter

RDCanecutter 26462

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Just now, MaybeACoordinator said:

Your honor, the litigant you see before you bringing this suit is vexatious and a menace to our body of law. In fact, one might say he has found a new and modern way to practice the same foul deeds as his savage ancestors. Yes, your honor, this man is a White Collar Cannibal. 

The account I read about the Atakapa was by some lost Frenchman who said they were real nice. They told him, "Yeah, we kill and eat Spaniards, but that's because they act like Spaniards. We don't eat everybody."

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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2 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

The account I read about the Atakapa was by some lost Frenchman who said they were real nice. They told him, "Yeah, we kill and eat Spaniards, but that's because they act like Spaniards. We don't eat everybody."

The cannibalism of Texas natives appears to be either greatly exaggerated or an outright lie. By some accounts the Karankawas were out there eatin' errbody all the time, and by others they only occasionally dabbled at times of great hoopla (usually after they'd killed some Attakapas, probably), and others have it that they were absolutely horrified and disgusted when they came upon shipwrecked Spaniards eating their dead. (Maybe they learned it from them.) At any rate, the Kranks did not eat those particular Spaniards...But a couple of centuries later, EVERYBODY hated the Kranks: Texans, Mexicans, and all the other tribes, too. 

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NeverMarryAStripper

NeverMarryAStripper 21920

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1 hour ago, Kyrie Eleison said:

nope...WOS wouldn't have been a playoff game.  WOS would've been a non-district game prior to 1982 before WOS moved up a classification and a district game after that.  they're only 20 miles that separate the schools, and it would've been either at home or not.

most likely, the game you're talking about would've been one of either Houston Kashmere, San Antonio Churchill, or Spring Branch Stratford as those are the three teams we routinely would meet when we were on our run to either state or state semifinals in 1974 through 1979.

In 1976 you went through my old high school Spring Branch Memorial

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