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Hot Springs residents and tribal members press to retire 'Savages' mascot
Summary
Interviews collected by the local program Eagles Eye show Hot Springs residents and tribal members calling the Hot Springs High School "Savages" mascot degrading. Organizers say a petition and outreach to tribal bodies are under way; the Hot Springs School Board has said any change would need support from American Indian community members.
Hot Springs residents and tribal members interviewed by the local program Eagles Eye urged the Hot Springs School and surrounding communities to retire the school's "Savages" mascot, calling the term degrading and harmful to Native students.
The issue matters to residents on the Flathead Reservation and nearby towns because interviewees said the term carries historical and personal harms for Indigenous people and can affect how Native children are perceived and treated in school. Organizers described a petition drive and planned outreach to the tribal council and local Indian organizations to build support for change.
"There are no such thing as savages. Savages, that's not my people. My people aren't savages. We, we're children of the earth," said Aknaq Shlushpaski, a Kootenai member and participant in the First Peoples Group, Indigena. Aknaq said the depiction and name are demeaning and rooted in ignorance.
Leroy Obenic, a Hot Springs resident who said he has attended local sporting events for 45 years, said the mascot "never did as far as I'm concerned have a time or a place to be used in our school system up there at Hot Springs." Obenic said he has gathered petition support locally, plans to bring the issue to the tribal council and will ask the Indian Warrior Society to assist in replacing the logo and the name.
An organizer who discussed a petition said he submitted a notice printed in a local paper and held a petition-signing session at the Indian Senior Center. The petition session was scheduled for March 4 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and petition signers were required to be at least 18 years old and eligible voters in the Hot Springs District, according to the organizer's description.
A community member interviewed summarized the broader impact: "Savage is a name for a people without a society, without a culture, without a language. It's degrading." Interviewees pointed to other local schools with Native mascots — named during interviews as Arlee (Warriors) and Ronan (Chiefs) — and to professional-team examples raised during the conversations.
Speakers described mixed local responses. Organizers acknowledged that some alumni and community members resist change, and that the Hot Springs School Board previously said any change would require support from American Indian community members. One organizer said a petition session produced little turnout during the scheduled hours and that additional outreach would be necessary.
No formal school-board action to change the name or mascot was reported in the interviews. The actions described by interviewees were grassroots: a petition drive, planned outreach to the tribal council, and requests for assistance from local Indian organizations. The organizer who ran the petition said further community work and conversations would follow.
The interviews were presented as part of ongoing local coverage; organizers and tribal members said they will continue outreach and report back to the community and the school board as efforts proceed.
