An Indiana school district is reviewing its Indian mascot after a TikTok video went viral. 

Anderson School Corporation decided to review the mascot after the TikTok video faced criticism. It showed a high school basketball game ritual, involving two students dressed as a chief and a maiden, who perform a ceremony that has a pipe and dance.

Fox News reported Sarah Holba, the person who’d taken the video before the basketball game, saying, “It was disappointing, but not surprising that it was happening”. She also shed light on how long the tradition has been going on. 

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Holba continued, “The Anderson student section got really into it. You had the pep band playing”, adding, “I asked some people around me who said ‘oh, Anderson has been doing this forever”. 

Anderson School Corporation Superintendent responded to this criticism by suspending the pre-game ritual and setting up an internal committee to review how the mascot is used throughout the system. The superintended went on to detail that input would be sought from members of the Native American community before arriving at any decision. 

Superintendent Joseph Cronk said, “We’re taking this very seriously”, adding, “You know it’s always our intent to honour our Native American tradition and maybe that was ignorant. Maybe we don’t know what we’re honouring. Maybe we’re not honouring at all”. 

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As per Cronk, the mascot has been used by the school with the blessing of Chief William Anderson’s ancestors. 

Meanwhile, Rachel Thunder, director of the Indiana and Kentucky Chapter of the American Indian Movement told Fox, “It really incites an environment that is hostile, that is dangerous and damaging”, continuing, “They teach non-native children that it’s acceptable to participate in culturally abusive behaviour and perpetuate inaccurate misconceptions”.