OK Marion, If Not ‘Mavericks’ Then What Else?

I've got to tell you, living in the Marion Independent School District has been an up and down affair in the past several weeks. You have the high of passing the $31 million bond issue for school repairs and improvements. And then you have the ongoing low of trying to choose a mascot that won't offend anyone.

Yes, the mascot name change in Marion lingers on. In case you missed the latest, the name that was chosen to replace Indians in a district wide vote was Mavericks. I didn't vote for it, but hey, alliteration wins every time. But last week, someone pointed out that the term Maverick had a racist past. It turns out that the term Maverick came from man named Samuel Maverick in the early 1800's. He refused to brand his cattle, and according to the Gazette was lauded as an independent thinker. Just one problem. He was also a slave owner.

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The school district has now put a hold on Mavericks. The school board has tabled the issued until their April 12th board meeting, so technically Mavericks is still a possible outcome in all this.

I get the fact that the time had come for the district to drop the nickname Indians. No matter how it was being used, two Iowa tribes complained and its days had come to an end. The frustrating thing about the Mavericks nickname is there was a committee appointed to come up with mascot ideas. A Google search would have found out plenty about Samuel Maverick!

That said, I'm tired of all the complaining and joking about the situation. Yes, it is silly that we can't come up with something at this point in time. Yes, when you pick historical names and figures from 200 plus years ago, chances are you're going to find slave owners. But now is not the time to pile on. Now is the time to get this whole thing figured out so other people stop laughing.

Mavericks. Storm. Wolves. Pick one so we all have something to root for.