Drill team stuck in the 50s with the chant

I was truly watching with horror when I saw the news. WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK? Do they not have an advisor?

This was disgusting - the costumes, the cultural appropriation, and the words.

Gah, that is terrible. It's incredible and sad to think of how many people had a hand in thinking this was ok.

My high school team was the "Redmen" and they changed that in 1995.

You'd think someone from Disney would actually watch the team perform prior to offering an invite, and um, catch the fact that their "dance and chant" is totally inappropriate. Unbelievable.

First thing I looked for was which state they were from. Surprise surprise.

But heck, how long did it take for the owner of the Washington Redskins to finally change the name, and that’s in the DC area.

Yes, it’s Texas. But in a country where many were happy to chop and chant along with the Atlanta Braves last fall, are you really surprised?

I’m sure there is a strong feeling in that part of Texas that no one is changing their traditions because the “woke mob” told them to.

My middle and high school in Nebraska both had Native American related mascots. I just checked and they have not changed. We used to do war whoops and the same chop and chant the Braves do at games back in the 80s. I don’t know if they’ve changed that or not.

It’s wrong, and all we can really do is keep calling it out when we see it. Unfortunately, for some people, there is no sense of know better/do better. That’s a “woke” mentality to them and they’re not having it.

This is bullshit from Disney.

That team has been performing at Disney every year (except 2021 bc Covid) since 2002 and has many years performed that exact dance and chant. Disney can’t say they didn’t know about it in advance.

In 2020, they performed wearing their full Indian headdresses.

I think it sucks that Disney gets a pass by placing all the blame back on the team.

Whoever wrote the "non-apology" mentioned that they were treated with disrespect at Disney so I wonder if there was more than a lack of clapping and cheering. And I've got no problem with that. 

The drill team and band went to the parks in school shirts that have the school’s mascot (a huge Indian chief head, you can see the logo on their school marquee) on their non-performance days. They apparently got negative comments from other guests about the tshirts and were offended by that as well.

This slideshow in this article shows even more of the horrid traditions. www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/PN-G-responds-to-Adidas-offer-to-change-Indian-6620605.php

Those warbonnets.😡

And they play “at The Reservation?” 😡

The local high school my DDs attended have a Native American mascot that was completely made up.* I hated the imagery, but good luck getting rid of it. After all, they just want to “honor” them. 😡

*They are the Mohigans. No, that is not a misspelling of Mohican. The “mo “ comes from the name of our town. “Hig” is for high, and “an” is for annual, another name for year book. So basically, they are the fighting yearbooks. Nonetheless, at some point someone picked up on the similarity to Mohican and that’s how we got red, white, and blue fringed “buckskin” dresses for the majorettes, which they wear with white gogo boots (because THAT’S authentic and so honorable/respectful) and a headband with a single feather. The head majorette wears a white uniform with gold gogo boots (even more authentic, am I right?) and an over the top warbonnet that she wears long enough to cross the field before handing it off to her oh-so-proud mom (who was probably a Mohiganette, once) so she can perform the repetitive Rockette-style kick line moves that haven’t changed in 40 years.

This will never end. There are 3rd-generation Mohiganettes who are performing now, and this is a hill their parents are willing to die on.

It’s pissing me off that everyone is just believing this from Disney and letting them out of the discussion.

That team has been performing at Disney every year for 20 years (except 2021 bc Covid) and has performed that exact routine at Disney in the past.

Disney conveniently leaves that out of the statement.

It’s one of the reasons the team and school are so shocked that they are getting this response. They’ve done the exact performance before and didn’t receive any negative attention.

I’m a drill team girl from Texas, so I have LOTS of thoughts and opinions about this situation, but the other thing I really want to make clear is that I hate that this is being portrayed as a problem with the drill team.

Let me explain.

The words they are saying are the school’s fight song. The drill team did not write the song. There are videos of the song being chanted at school wide pep rallies and assemblies. There are videos of elementary school kids at the school that feeds into this high school singing the song. The band is playing the song while the drill team performs during that parade at Disney.

Those dance moves go back generations they were not choreographed by the current team or current director. It is not a new routine.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all saying it’s ok because it’s a tradition.

What I am saying is that this is a school wide issue with responsibility at the district admin level and it needs to be addressed as such. It would be so easy to sweep it under the rug by reprimanding the drill team instructor and that’s not what needs to happen to fix the situation.

I mean, the band is literally participating in that performance in the video and no one is talking about the band.

I’m just saying I hope the district doesn’t throw up their hands and claim they didn’t know, leaving responsibility solely on the drill team, the way Disney did.

Can you clarify what you mean by costume?

Do you mean the headdresses that Disney didn’t let them wear or what they’re actually wearing in the video?

For what it’s worth, Texas music teacher forums are unloading hard on the band directors. We expect better than this. We are better than this.

I’m hopeful that TMEA and UIL will address racist mascots/chants/traditions in our schools and possibly sanction programs that perpetuate these harmful stereotypes.