Is it time to rename Flathead High?

I grew up living in northern Wisconsin and lived adjacent to the Red Cliff Indian Reservation. As I grew older, I attended Northland College, where I studied Native American culture with one of the tribal elders. One of the highlights of my musical career was recording a CD (“Woodland Winds”) with a Native American flute player. Both of us had had dreams of using music to help bridge cultures and ease ethnic tension.

With this in mind, it was of great interest to me last spring during graduation when the issue of a Native American student wearing a feather on their cap came up. The story got excellent coverage by the Inter Lake. The grandmother of the student made a final comment that was profound and that has stuck with me. It was something like “isn’t it ironic, that a school named after an Indian tribe would forbid a feather during graduation.” This was a very powerful statement.

Shortly after moving here in 2000, I learned that the term Flathead was a misnomer — not the name that the Indians around here called themselves at the time, but a name given to them by a white man.

Flathead County was founded in 1893. To give you an idea of the prevailing attitude of the time, consider these quotes by Theodore Roosevelt in 1896:

“The settler and pioneer have at bottom had justice on their side; this great continent could not have been kept as nothing but a game preserve for squalid savages.”

“I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”

I realize that the name Flathead holds sentimental value for many people, and has become part of “accepted use.” With the new addition to FHS on the horizon, I believe it would be a good time to at least float the idea of a name change. If accepted by the public, a new name could be part of the celebration at the completion of the new construction.

Schools and libraries are educational institutions. The Flathead County Library has already taken the lead and renamed itself Imagine If. If you talk to library staff you will find out that they realized that the name Flathead was not only a misnomer, but also paints a visual caricature of an ethnic group — and is therefore inappropriate. It took a strong dedication to accuracy and to learning to re-brand the library for the 21st century and I applaud them for it.

Part of my job as an artist is to see things from creative and fresh perspectives. This is why I would encourage the board to at least ponder the issue at this moment in history. As the library has done, I like the idea of a new name being a verb. So I will start the brainstorming process with my own proposal and then have some fun with your own ideas:

School Name: Love High School

Team Name: Home of the Angels

Colors: Blue and White

Logo: Wings

And yes, the wings would have feathers. Perhaps everyone could earn a feather and wear it at graduation. If it is impractical, or unpopular, the idea can fade back into obscurity, and so be it, I will at least have done my duty to raise the issue.

Eckels teaches guitar at both Flathead and Glacier high schools.