By the third week in July, over 2,200 people signed an online petition to retire the Millis High School mascot, the Millis Mohawks (https://www.change.org/retirethemascot, Twitter/Instagram @retirethemohawk, Facebook: Retire the Millis Mascot). 2014 Millis High School graduate Bekah Kohls, now a resident of Texas and 2017 graduate of UMass Amherst, presented the poll to Millis residents via social media in the unrest that followed the highly publicized killing of George Floyd.

“It was kind of the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and all of the events transpiring,” says Kohls. “I wanted to stand up in all of the places I’ve worked and lived, addressing racial issues in all facets of my life.” The mascot of her hometown, she says, was “definitely one of the most obvious issues,” she says. Kohls and a group of about 50 others from Millis hope to change what she understands now to be a racist image.

“I attended countless rallies, football games, and athletic events with a feather in my hair or with ‘war paint’ on my face,” the petition reads. “After leaving Millis I was educated on the harmful implications of misusing and misrepresenting an indigenous people in western culture.”

Not everyone agrees with the proposal, as the town’s unofficial social media page, The Millis Public Forum, on Facebook, is rife with controversy over the issue. The discussion yielded over 900 comments.

“I got a lot of support, and I got a little backlash,” says Kohls, “but I think at the end of the day we educated a lot more people than we infuriated. The primary goal was to make sure it was an issue on everyone’s mind.”

Kohls disagrees that the mascot honors the Mohawk people, saying it suggests a one-dimensional stereotype of indigenous people “by a majority white town that never had an indigenous person say they wanted that mascot. I would also add that those native populations have been asking for the removal of all native mascots for over 60 years, and if we were really honoring them, we would listen to their wishes.”

Kohls adds that the Mohawk Nation plans to write an official ask of removal, which she will submit to the Millis School Committee with the petition. Kohls’ says her petition also has the support of the NCAI (The National Congress of American Indians), who sent an email to the Millis School Committee asking for the removal of the mascot. 

Kerri Ann Roche, Chair of the Millis School Committee, commented on the petition in mid-July. 

“We absolutely want to hear from her and the students and the community about this. The fall timing is perfect, and we look forward to that,” said Roche, who noted that the School Committee’s focus was currently on returning to school in the fall. The group, she says, plans to listen to “not just Bekah and her group, but to the Millis community and get everybody’s input. We recognize it’s not just the students. We kind of build a community around the Millis Mohawks name, and we want to give everyone a chance to think about it, talk about it and be all inclusive.”

Local history enthusiast and teacher, as well as Millis High School football coach and former player, Brian Kraby is among those examining the Millis Mohawks mascot origins. Local folks he’s spoken with place the mascot to the late 1950s. Fascinated by Native American history and culture, Kraby had posted a question awhile back about the origin of the mascot on social media.

“Every team was just Millis High School, or Medway High School, or Ashland High School, until the 50s or so,” says Kraby. “And then Medway became the Mustangs, and Ashland became the Clockers. It was a school meeting, and someone said, ‘How about Millis Mohawks?’”

Kraby explains that Millis Historical Commission member Rusty Cushman has looked into the matter, perusing yearbooks for mention of “Mohawks.”

“It was not mentioned prior to 1956,” says Kraby, referring to Cushman’s research. “The 1953 yearbook didn’t say anything about the Mohawks, so Rusty thinks it was ’56 or ’57.”

Kraby has his own opinion, but as a teacher, he says, he encourages his students to arrive at their own conclusions.

“It’s sort of a pride thing … When you say ‘Redskins,’ I think that’s disparaging. “I don’t think ‘Mohawks’ is disparaging; it’s an Iriquois tribe, but I do understand when people say they have no history (here), and I understand why people want to change it. But, I’m biased. I grew up in Millis, and to be honest with you 100%, I just want to get the kids back to school.”

Kraby says the historical record shows that the only Mohawks that came to this area were from the Albany, NY area, through the Mohawk Trail, (now Route 2). In fact, he says, during the King Philip war, “King Philip,” or Metacom, had approached the Mohawks in 1676 to aid them in their war against the English. It didn’t go well, says Kraby.

“(The Mohawks) killed 500 of his men,” says Kraby. Had Metacom been successful in trying to get the Mohawks to ally, says Kraby, he might have had the chance to win the war.

Some suggest Massachusetts legislators may decide the fate of the Millis Mohawks mascot before the Town does. Local Town Pages asked Rep. David Linsky for clarification. 

“This bill, S.2593, An Act prohibiting the use of Native American mascots by public schools in the Commonwealth, was reported out favorably from the Committee on Education and referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means as a redraft of S.247 and H.443. The last movement of the bill was on March 12, 2020,” says Linsky, referring to legislation first proposed in early 2019. “I have not heard from Millis residents nor school officials on this issue. Personally, I believe it is time to change these nicknames and logos, however, I believe it is a decision that should be made at the local level.”

Linsky referred Local Town Pages to Sen. Becca Rausch on the bill, since it was still in the Senate, but had not heard back was not able to get a statement from Sen. Rausch by deadline.