Letter: Learning from Native Americans

About the mascot name “Indians” (as is in use at Burbank’s John Burroughs High School). I have been a high school and university instructor for many years. I grew up a “white guy” in Los Angeles, and one day I found my teaching position over. Unexpectedly, I found myself looking for work.

I was hired as a “counselor/coordinator” for an American Indian/Native American project, designed to train people from many tribes in vocations so they allegedly could get work in big cities. For the first time, being around native people, I discovered the meaning of what “sacred” can mean when practiced in daily relationships with people, honoring everyone.

An 18-year-old Sioux woman taught me with one simple reminder: “Everything in life is about relationship.”

I learned that native people were more than John Wayne movies, the only source I had for what “Indians” were supposed to be. I have come to see how using terms like “Indians” for an athletic team or school is demeaning, disrespectful and hurtful to many native people, and even nonnative people.

As a teacher and family therapist, I like to see people, all people, respect one another, even when not in complete agreement. Understanding and compassion can be a subject matter for any school or college. I welcome a conversation.

Bruce Scott

Topanga