Most Dartmouth mascot supporters are either alumnae of the Dartmouth schools themselves or have children who play sports or music. For them the mascot is just a harmless part of a beautiful town's life.
But in recent years — with police killings, a Commission now considering a new flag and seal to replace a highly offensive one, corporations finally bowing to the times by getting rid of racist symbols and logos, and schools trying to be more inclusive — not everybody in Dartmouth is happy with these changes.
Least of all Dartmouth Republicans.
If you've been following a pro-mascot group called "Defend Dartmouth" you must have noticed by now that the entire organization is a creation of the Dartmouth Republican Town Committee (DartRTC).
You heard me right: the entire leadership of Defend Dartmouth is drawn from the 13 members of the DartRTC. Even the referendum that residents are about to vote on is the creation of the Dartmouth Republican Committee hiding behind a fig leaf provided by local Republicans with Aquinnah ties.
Both John Haran and Jacob Ventura, who openly boast that the referendum was their handiwork, sit on the Dartmouth Republican Town Committee, as does George Marcotte, Defend Dartmouth's public face. DartRTC members Xiaoqin Shelley Zhang and Chris Pereira (who often seems to speak for the Aquinnah leadership) have taken to editorial pages and airwaves to flog the group's message.
When Defend Dartmouth asks for a donation it is processed by Anedot, a payment processor used by far-right Republicans. The address of the "Defend Dartmouth Ballot Question Committee" is the home address of DartRTC member Michael Mattos.
According to documents filed with the Town Clerk, Defend Dartmouth Ballot Question Committee has two officers with familiar names: George Marcotte, Chairman; and Michael Mattos, Treasurer. Their 8-day financial report shows $290 in under-$50 donations and 3 large donations totaling $1,900, one from Ricky Tsay, a right-wing hotelier and state congressional candidate from Florida (so much for despising "outsiders"). The largest is from Leslie Pereira, whose address is the same as DartRTC member Chris Pereira.
DartRTC-"adjacent" members of the Aquinnah have jumped in as well. In fact, without their collaboration the entire campaign would not be possible.
Aquinnah tribal council member and New Bedford City Councilwoman Naomi Carney — who works for far-right sheriff and DartRTC member Tom Hodgson — has appeared on WBSM to chat up her family's connections to the mascot. Her brother Clyde Andrews, a local football legend who claims to have designed the mascot 50 years ago, is also on board. Carney's son Sean — who tried and failed to capitalize on his mother's name with his own City council run — claims to speak for the Aquinnah but simply sounds like any Trump Republican.
Jacob Ventura, who ran for state senate on an anti-immigration platform, and who in one letter to the School Committee claimed to speak for the entire Wampanoag Nation, has been criticized (along with the Aquinnah chairwoman) by other Aquinnah members for speaking for the tribe on the issue. Ventura apparently thinks so little of other tribes' views on cultural appropriation that he and the rest of the Dartmouth Republicans decided that Dartmouth's 91% white voters ought to decide the mascot's fate instead of Native Americans.
The DartRTC, through their "Defend Dartmouth" cutout, has attacked school committee members, liberals, academics, non-supporters and even other native people for being "outsiders," not being Native Americans, or not being a “federally recognized” Native American.
The DartRTC aka Defend Dartmouth just can't help using MAGA phrases like "woke," "elites," and "cancel culture" to slam their enemies. The DartRTC has threatened to replace school committee members by election or recall, and they have asked candidates to sign pledges. All of this is straight out of the Tea Party playbook. The DartRTC is even fielding their own anti-"Critical Race Theory," anti-VAX, and anti-mandate candidate.
When Dartmouth voters go to the polls on April 5th they ought to be clear about who and what they are really voting for. For an alumnus or a parent of kids in marching band or in sports, think of what taking the "Indian" to an away game might mean to the host city residents. Think of what misusing someone else's culture on a football helmet says about respect for a majority of Native Americans who find it deeply offensive.
For Dartmouth Republicans the mascot may be part of a wider culture war, but for anyone else it ought to be a matter of human dignity and showing Native Americans a little respect.