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Sign at UP game draws fire

Seen as offensive to Native Americans; school apologizes

This sign displayed at the Wakefield-Marenisco boys basketball game Tuesday against Bessemer has sparked an outcry that the reference to "Trail of Tears" is offensive to Native Americans. The school has since apologized, saying the cheerleaders who made the sign did not know the history of the term. (Contributed photo)

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield-Marenisco School District has formally apologized for a sign displayed at a boys basketball game that drew widespread criticism on the internet as offensive toward Native Americans.

The school’s cheerleaders made and displayed the sign Tuesday at a game against Bessemer that declared: “Hey Speedboys, get ready to leave in a trail of tears,” with “ROUND 2” below. Bessemer had beaten the Cardinals earlier this year.

The Wakefield-Marenisco players ran through the sign as they took the court.

District Superintendent Catherine Shamion said staff members did not see the sign in advance and the cheerleaders were unaware of the significance of the phrase in Native American history.

The “Trail of Tears” refers to the forced relocation of about 16,500 Native Americans from five nations, including the Cherokee, from the southeastern U.S. to west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s to 1850s. Various scholars estimate 2,000 to 6,000 people died during the long trek from exposure, starvation and disease.

Lac Vieux Desert tribal member Stevie Bell saw the sign after her niece posted a photo on her Facebook page that by Wednesday had been shared 125 times.

“Not going to lie — my stomach dropped a little,” Bell said. “I have friends whom I grew up with from Wakefield. I couldn’t see them doing something like this. I know the cheerleaders wouldn’t intend on doing this. I just immediately thought about the staff allowing it.”

A call to the office of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in Watersmeet was not immediately returned.

Shamion said the cheer advisor who usually attends games was absent Tuesday for a personal matter. The sign did not appear until just before the game began.

“The sign was being made while the team was warming up,” Shamion said. “It was a very last-minute thing. Therefore nobody saw it.”

Shamion didn’t hear about the sign until the next morning, when it had been seen hundreds, if not thousands, of times on Facebook and other social media outlets.

The district, Shamion said, sent an apology to the tribal councils of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, all of which have communities not far from Wakefield-Marenisco.

An apology was given to Bessemer Area School District as well, Shamion said.

“We’re just embarrassed and sorry,” Shamion said.

Shamion was adamant the cheerleaders had no malicious intent behind the sign, explaining they got the idea off the internet. An online search shows examples of signs with nearly identical wording.

“(The cheerleaders) didn’t even make the connection with history. They were just like ‘Oh good, we’ll make them cry.’ Ignorance is no excuse, that’s for sure,” Shamion said.

She was contacted Wednesday afternoon by a concerned Lac Vieux Desert tribal member whose son plays on Bessemer’s high school basketball team. It was unclear if he was at the game, but Shamion said she returned his call to express regret and apologize, which he said he’d share with other tribal members.

“He was very accepting and very understanding,” Shamion said.

The incident became a “teachable moment,” Shamion said. The cheerleaders spent parts of Wednesday learning about the Trail of Tears and Native American history. Shamion said the cheerleaders also drafted apology letters with a social studies teacher.

Bell, who was not speaking for the tribe, said she accepted the district’s apology.

“I hope they just have an understanding of the history of this, that’s all,” Bell said. “If they really learned something, that’s what makes them better people.”

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