TSA investigating Native woman's claim of offensive treatment
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Transportation Security Administration said it's investigating a report by a Native American air traveler who says an agent treated her offensively at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Indigenous rights activist and attorney Tara Houska says she was headed home to Bemidji Monday when a TSA agent said she needed to pat down her long braids and then pulled them behind her shoulders and said “giddyup” as she snapped them like reins of a horse.
“My hair is part of my spirit. I am a Native woman. I am angry, humiliated. Your “fun'' hurt”, Houska tweeted.
Houska, who is Objibwe, says she doesn't want the agent fired, but thinks TSA needs to improve its sensitivity training.
The TSA said it's reviewing security video from the checkpoint and will “take appropriate action should an investigation substantiate the traveler's allegation.”
Board of education votes to reinstate 'Redmen' mascot
KILLINGLY, Conn. (AP) — A board of education in Connecticut voted to bring back a controversial Native American-themed athletic mascot.
The Killingly Board of Education opted to reinstate the Redmen mascot at a meeting Wednesday, the Norwich Bulletin reported. In October, the same board approved the new Red Hawks mascot after it was overwhelmingly approved by students at Killingly High School.
Several students, faculty members and local tribal representatives have criticized the original mascot as inappropriate, racist and stereotypical. It featured the profile of a Native American man wearing a headdress.
Newly elected Republican members of the education board made a campaign promise to reverse the change. The board, with a Republican majority, held a public meeting on Dec. 11 where it voted to remove the Red Hawks mascot but tied on whether to return to the original mascot.
More than a dozen people, including students and Native American representatives, spoke out against the decision to keep original mascot at the meeting. They also sought some other compromise, the Bulletin reported.
At the Wednesday meeting, the board also voted to appoint a subcommittee that would update the high school logo so it doesn't “portray Native Americans in a negative stereotype.”
