This pain began around 1848 in Lake County, just about the time despicable individuals like Kelsey and Stones came to get rich at the expense of local Native people, who through murder, forced starvation, enslavement, disease and massacres had lost at least 50,000 of their own by 1870 ... not to mention dispossession or the loss of land and cultural resources, as well as decades of forced assimilation or acculturation.

In the face of this very real pain, how does the majority of Kelseyville residents react 150 years later?

The Kelseyville residents, as a people and culture, have no pain of their own that can compare to what the Pomo people were made to endure. All they prove to have is a pettiness which reveals an underlying persistent current of ignorance and mean-spiritedness, doing all in their power to revert to the old mascot name.

Kelseyville beats South Dakota in racism. South Dakota, long one of the most racist states in the nation in its dealing with Native people, found the courage to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day.

Kelseyville has neither the courage nor the generosity of heart to allow a change that is meaningful to the Pomos of Lake County, and shames California and this nation.

Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport.

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taxismom - broad brush? Registered | 01-15-2008 10:39:58 Please don't spatter me, as a resident of Kelseyville, with these accusations of racism, nor assume to know what is in my personal 'pain' inventory. That being said..... I have lived in this town for most of my 53 years and find it revolting that this board and administration would even consider putting this back on the agenda. I am sickened and disgusted,and sorely disappointed that this newly seated school board finds this issue a priority. Supervisor Brown was quoted as saying 'dialog needs to happen' Does this mean that dialog needs to happen also, regarding creationism as scientific theory, or whether or not the earth is flat, or whether gravity exists, because a few ignorant individuals, who have never made use of logic or critical thinking and informed decision making or have ever traveled literally or figuratively outside of the boundaries of their narrow provincial world, believe so ? School budgets are facing a 10% across the board cut in prop 98 money, as proposed by the governator. Programs will be cut, services will be halted, teachers jobs and support staff salaries will be on the dock..and THIS is the top priority? This is the issue that the self appointed keepers of our community's values choose to rally around? It appears that these spineless board members do not want to face the real problems, just create and promote false ones for a few jingoistic rubes to salivate over. This is so typical. In the face of difficult decision making, that is going to require critical thinking and creative solutions addressed with an open mind, a few myopic individuals choose fall back into the us vs. them tactics, create and promote conflict where there is no factual basis for it, and adopt a 'whistle past the graveyard' mentality in order to make up for their lack of intellectual capacity to craft meaningful, workable solutions. The fact that this board chooses to place top priority on such a divisive issue to pacify the fevered brains of a few tin gods and so called "pillars of the community", does not bode well for our schools.our children or the health of our community. The only questions and the only agenda this board and administration need be answering and pursuing, is how to help our kids get the best education possible. That is their charge as elected and hired administrative officials. For every minute Boyce McClain and Supervisor Brown spend on this travesty I want commensurate rebate on my local property taxes. If these men think re-enforcing racial stereotypes and promoting narrow minded insular, provincialism equips our children for the future and creates citizens who can participate as full members of society outside of the town limits of Kelseyville, they are failing in their charge, and are betraying our whole community, as elected officials. I, for one, am sorry I voted for each and every one of them. I thought with some new blood and a modern perspective, that the critical problems that need to be faced to provide our children with a good public education and that an agenda would be set that equips these kids with a sense of their place in the world, would actually be addressed. I am done supporting any of the merchants in Kelseyville if this is their agenda, Marcie Cadora's Brick Grill and Armaund Paulie's Polestar Computers to begin with. I am nauseated by this turn of events, but surprised...... sadly, no.

Raphael - Did not mean Author | 01-16-2008 01:08:14 to imply that each and every resident of Kelseyville is a racist...Each and every German was not a racist in 1930, but by doing nothing against a mad minority, they ended up going along with genocide. The pain mentioned is not about individual pain but pain as a group, as a race, as a culture. Within this there are variations, but post traumatic stress disorder is a fact and has been studied in groups such as Native Americans and the descendants of Jewish people who survived the holocaust. This pain has been observed to pass from one generation to the next.

taxismom - offline Registered | 01-16-2008 11:27:58 Ralph please..contact me at taxismom@mail.org the rest of you...spam away

lcsage - immigrant troll Registered | 01-15-2008 10:06:20 montoilette gets off on spewing his racist race card garbage. He is not a Native American or even American born.

lcsage - PS Registered | 01-15-2008 10:08:06 I got sick after eating at the Brick Grill in addition to being sick with the slow service and high prices.

smurf - facts IP:66.81.73.xxx | 01-15-2008 10:25:16 fact #1.: this revisting the issue was completely predictable since Chris Irwin was elected, since his one and only qualification for the job was that he is for changing the mascots back. Fact #2: to make the change it will take both DeChaine and Irwin plus one more board member, which is possible but unlikely. Fact #3:if the board decides to agendize the issue (and I think they will), and if they do get 3 votes for changing back, then I will begin a recall campaign to remove any board member fom office who votes for the change, which in Irwin's case would be a pleasure since he is so completely unfit to be on any government board. Got that John and Chris? You will have the shortest terms on record, and the recall election will be in November during a presidential election-unlike the off year election that got you two into office with a tiny turnout of mostly rednecks and racists. There are more decent people in kelseyville than racists and fools, and the racists will lose in a fair contest where the choices are clear. So bring it on I say, let's rid ourselves of the deadweight and mascot issue at the same time!

taxismom - predictable - yes Registered | 01-15-2008 10:41:20 i agree, i only hoped that saner heads would prevail..silly me

Jolene Peake - Perfect Examples IP:12.174.82.xxx | 01-15-2008 16:35:01 I would like to thank taxismom, and smurf who responded to Raphael Montoliu,I am Native... roots from here to minnesota and let me tell you if these two are'nt the perfect example of the closed mindedness, ignorant, raciest kind of people we have to deal with. Yes, Thank You because this proves that yes there is still raceism. Who blindedly responds to what is being said. It is almost like dealing with the same people who came here and ripped are families apart and beings that it is 150 years later, believe it or not we are still in the process of healing are families, this is part of that healing, but thank you because it is people like you, who make us stronger, people like you who keep us going to fight for our dignity our confidence our self respect. these are some of the things in reality we still have to face, and as far as John and Chris I think they can see that this process does need to happen, because it is a part of good public education. To teach the kids about our history and how cruel people can be to one another, so that they don't repeat it and can understand and learn that it is not ok to treat one another like that and not to disregard another persons feelings, opinion , etc. they don't have to agree, but at least they will understand. I feel that is a very imporant part of our kids education.

taxismom - did you Registered | 01-15-2008 18:29:43 read my full post? i supported the original decision to change the name of the mascot. It was well past time for it to happen, and a step in the right direction. The idea that a few reactionaries are still foaming at the mouth about a fair decision voted on unanimously by the board that was sitting at the time, is a waste of our community's time and resources. The original decision should be upheld.

Donna Christopher - Balderdash Author | 01-15-2008 19:27:16 If everyone with their knickers in a knot put half as much energy into education as they are into this silly dialog over a mascot our kids would be smart enough to know that sports/mascots are EXTRACURRICULAR. If we didn't rank so low in our rating regarding education of children we could afford to fool with this silliness. But we do (49th last I heard, way to go CA). Schools are broke and good people of Kelseyville - really - is this your highest priority regarding educating your children??? Foreign interest are snapping up this country like there is a fire sale going on - and your focus is this?? Gee, wonder what the mascot will be when China owns our arse

Raphael - There is Author | 01-16-2008 01:49:24 racism in America...I know it is not a popular topic. Indian mascots are a national problem. Let's look at Chief Yahoo, the mascot of the Cleveland Indians...Do some research on the web about racism, and if you do your work you will find a caricature of a Jewish man published in nazi Germany in the late thirties that is extremely close to the caricature of chief Yahoo... Coincidence? I don't think so. When you take into consideration that the hatred expressed against the Native people of this continent lead to a massive reduction of their number through massacres, wars, deliberate starvation on reservations, diseases and in some cases enslavement, you will understand that the forms of dehumanization the mascots encourage or directly express touch a very raw and very painful nerve with Native people, who today talk about it not because of political correctness, which is something they could not care less about, but because as late as 30 years ago Native activists or any Native person who stood up for their right still run a high risk of being murdered, and with impunity. Rob Brown joked, at the school board meeting in Kelseyville, that the new name for the mascot should be the Kelseyville Cowboys, since, he said, back in the days, this issue would never have come up...Meaning any Pomo who would have spoken about this would have been shot dead. These were the good old days individuals like Brown, Cadora and Paulie obviously miss, and as Brown keeps getting re-elected, it means that the people of Kelseyville obviously ignore, forgive, understand, or support this kind of mentality. This is not a small, insignificant matter. I do not know how many times the Pomo people, and all Native people, must repeat that it is not about political correctness but about healing the pain of the past, which has been passed on through the generations and not that many if you look at it, through the telling of the true history, and by demanding a minimum of respect from the mainstream culture. THIS IS NOT SILLY BUT ESSENTIAL TO HEALING. This is not about knickers in a knot but about doing away with the BS that passes for history in this nation, and about America coming to terms with its lack of respect for the thoughts, feelings and needs of Native people (not to mention their resources), simply because they do not have the power of the vote. TRY TO HAVE AN AFRICAN AMERICAN MASCOT WITH HUGE LIPS AND OTHER RACIST FEATURES, AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS...OR A JEWISH MASCOT with the same features as Chief Yahoo (easy, the caricature already exist, created by the nazis) and see what happens! WAKE UP AMERICA!! And again, the fact that there are other issues to address here and in the whole wide world should not prevent Native people from expressing the profound pain they have endured from the imposition, against their will, of these mascots which at best poke fun at them, at worse perpetuates centuries of dehumanization, and are part of a greater problem, but it all adds up.

lcsage - If you were Registered | 01-16-2008 10:04:25 a native born American, people might take more stock in what you say. The last thing we need is some foreign born SD telling us how the cow ate the cabbage. You belong in Berkeley with your sixties mentality and looks.

smurf - huh? earth-to-Jolene! Registered | 01-15-2008 22:51:46 I'm the guy who first asked the board to stop using Indian mascots and somehow that makes me the bad-guy? racist? I have a lot of non-white friends for that label, what sort of logic is yours that you call the biggest supporter of pulling the Indian mascots in the non-native community a racist?

Donna Christopher - I'm a bad human Author | 01-16-2008 12:31:45 all I could think of when reading RM's post above was Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles as the Chief pointing out that they were the 'chosen people'. Yeah, I shouldn't be laughing my butt off but I am. That is all I can do about this matter. As the desendant of many natives and indentured servants I could dwell on my 'pain' but that was then and this is now - and I got real time pains to deal with. I just wish Kville and every other school district put as much gusto into academics as they do sports & mascots. No wonder this country is doing a swirly.

landshark - Nobody is thinking Registered | 01-17-2008 11:06:07 The whole situation is racist. Only thing is the bad guy is the white man. Let's see...school boards meddling in items other than the students "basic" education. Wonder where the Konocti teachers will send their kids to school now?

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