Keep the Carpinteria Warrior Head & Imagery

To:  Carpinteria School Board

WHEREAS the School Board of the Carpinteria Unified School District rammed through this vote without proper communication to the community, ignoring the possibility of future discussion bringing in diverse points of view, and





WHEREAS the current budgetary considerations of the CUSD suggest that new monies to be spent on the eradication and replacement of Warrior imagery would be wasteful at this time, and





WHEREAS the Seal of the City of Carpinteria prominently displays a Native American, and





WHEREAS Native American imagery alone carries no positive or negative connotation but is given meaning by the manner in which the imagery is treated, and





WHEREAS the Warrior name and imagery have only been treated with great respect over many years, and





WHEREAS the Warrior name and imagery have generated only positive feelings of good-will toward Native Americans on the part of Carpinterians for decades, and





WHEREAS no contemporary Carpinterian believes the Warrior name and imagery in any way reflects a turn-of-the-century attitude toward Native Americans as "savages" or "war-like" or that "all Native American nations are alike," and





WHEREAS the presence of the Warrior name and imagery has been a source of great pride to hundreds, if not thousands, of Carpinterians over the decades, and





WHEREAS many Carpinterians understand the term Warrior as applied to Native Americans to call to mind "the courage of a great people," a "role model the Carpinterian is proud to display as their leader," "pride, loyalty, courage, family and faith," and





WHEREAS many view the Warrior head as "a symbol to honor the native Americans who graced the Carpinteria Valley,"





It is our belief that to RETAIN any and all uses of the name "Warrior" and related imagery only brings pride to our community, a feeling of connectedness to the Native Americans of our community's past and acknowledges that a community's shared heritage is an important thing to maintain, and, therefore,





We - CURRENT and FORMER Carpinterians and not merely those visiting this petition who have no connection to our community whatsoever - call upon the School Board of the Carpinteria Unified School District to RETAIN the use of the name Warrior and all related imagery and to REVERSE it's recent 3-2 decision to the contrary.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Keep the Carpinteria Warrior Head & Imagery Petition to Carpinteria School Board was created by Friends of the Carpinteria Warriors and written by Scott Braithwaite (scott@carphighalumni.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.