Allegations of racism have roiled a school district in Alaska after a group of students dressed up in Western gear—including cowboy hats—during a basketball game against the state’s only Native American reservation.
The insensitive outfits were part of a “country” theme night Ketchikan High School’s pep rally had planned for the basketball game against Metlakatla High School on Feb. 5, KTUU reported. Photos showed students at Ketchikan—which also has students of Native ancestry—dressed in flannel shirts, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats, as they played against the Metlakatla Chiefs.
“It was just really, really bad, and racism was definitely present,” Latonya Galles, who has a son on the Chiefs, told KTUU.
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In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Ketchikan High School issued an apology for its students’ “cultural insensitivity” on social media—but then appeared to take that post down. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District reportedly vowed to take “all appropriate actions to ensure our schools and students uphold the highest standard of sportsmanship, respect, and hospitality.”
On Wednesday, Metlakatla Indian Community Mayor Albert Smith released a public statement to the Ketchikan school district, in which he voiced his anger about the district’s “muted” response to the “despicable” idea for the basketball game.
“I am forced to write this letter of condemnation,” he wrote. “It is despicable that students and faculty of Ketchikan High School thought it would be a good idea to promote ‘Cowboys and Indians Pep Theme’ in which the Metlakatla team was playing. We are the only team in the entire state of Alaska who comes from a federal Indian reservation and we take great pride in our heritage.”
He slammed the school for calling the incident merely culturally insensitive, instead of labeling it as racist.
“There is a broader historical context. One of white supremacy, genocide and trauma, that permeates the white-privileged blindness that allowed the cowboys-and-Indians pep theme to form,” he said. “It was hurtful and emotionally violent.”
The Ketchikan School District did not respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
Sxeen, a Native arts educator, who goes by the English name “Eva Rowan,” hopes the incident is an educational opportunity.
“I think the best way to show up for Indigenous people, especially in the education world, is to learn about where you live,” said Rowan, who identifies as Lingít/Pueblo. She teaches Lingít language and Native art in Klawock, nearly 25 miles from Ketchikan. After learning about what happened at the basketball game, she was immediately upset and triggered.
“My initial response is always defensive when racial incident happens, especially when it involves kids,” she told The Daily Beast. “After going back to read Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District’s initial statement and finding it removed from their Facebook page…I feel more sadness than anything.
“Even if you are being unintentional, you should intentionally be learning and showing up…especially when you live in a community whose original caretakers of the land are Indigenous,” Rowan added. “Your care, education, and living should reflect that.”
David R. Boxley, a traditional Tsimshian artist, Indigenous language revival advocate, and Native activist, explained that racism can often appear benign “on the surface.”
“Racism isn’t always guys in white hoods,” he told The Daily Beast.
As a member of the Metlakatla Reservation, he recalled Ketchikan’s racist past and his grandmother seeing signs in windows that read, “No dogs or Indians allowed.”
“It’s not just the school; it’s a bigger issue,” he said. “There needs to be more done. There needs to be more interaction between us, exposing students in Ketchikan to us, to our history, to knowledge of who we are. Usually things like racism can be stomped out just by getting to know each other better—realizing that we’re all just human beings.”
In a Facebook post that went viral in southeastern Alaskan communities this week, a user explained why the cowboy trope is problematic, given historical violence against Native Americans.
“[I] was a little weirded out to see a bleacher full of children dressed up as cowboys when [Ketchikan] is playing the only reserve,” Gloria Burns wrote. “It feels like an adult should have explained why it isn’t really what would be considered welcoming, respectful, or peppy and mentored our young people in a different direction.
“I’m sure many will think I’m being way too sensitive, but I was in shock,” Burns continued.
“I asked people around me if this was real. I looked for an adult, but unfortunately didn’t see one I recognized as responsible other than the coaches,” the Facebook post read.
“The school needs to apologize [to] the Metlakatla, then the pep club needs to apologize to the basketball team. Then, the district really needs to invest in place-based teaching and cultural diversity,” a person added.
“I am just sadden[ed] by all of this. And I am sorry, trying to explain it as country night just doesn’t cut it,” another posted. “It is just plain bad sportsmanship. Metlakatla is family, friends, our neighbors. …I wholeheartedly agree…about investing in educating everyone.”
Boxley called the pep rally move “innocent ignorance” that needed better direction overall from the community.
“Schools across the country would do well to teach [Native] history,” he explained. “I watch a lot of documentaries about how Germany healed after World War II. They didn't shy away from their mistakes. They made it blatantly clear that what happened was wrong and they're not going to let people forget what happened. And I think that's been America's biggest mistake.”
