Group Behind Recall Effort Over School Warriors Logo Calls Truce
The Carpinteria Unified School District forms a committee to examine the Native American imagery in an effort to heal the rift.
The grassroots organization known in Carpinteria as “Warrior Spirit Never Dies” has announced it will suspend efforts to recall Carpinteria Unified School District Board member Beverly Grant.
The crux of the issue
The group began a whirlwind campaign against Grant after she voted in favor of removing all Native American imagery from the district at a board meeting on April 22. The item passed on a 3-2 vote with Grant, Amrita Salm and Leslie Deardorff in favor. Board members Dr. Alex Pulido and Terry Hickey Banks opposed.
Superintendent Paul Cordeiro clarified at the April 22 meeting that the issue is not over the Warrior name but rather the visual insignia associated with it. After much public comment addressing both sides of the issue, Pulido motioned that the district keep the status quo and focus on reviewing aspects of the logo that negatively affect Native Americans. No one seconded the motion and it failed.
After a second move to vote for further dialogue on the subject failed, Grant suggested that the board make the decision, at which point the motion to remove all Native American logos and imagery passed.
With Warrior Spirit Never Dies taking an actively political approach, the vote has stirred up fervent Warrior loyalty within much of the Carpinteria community. Carpinteria High students organized a walkout to Cordiero’s office on April 23, and dozens of supporters rallied on April 25 against the decision.
Forming an advisory committee
At the May 13 school district board meeting, Cordeiro petitioned the board to suspend its decision and form a committee dedicated to analyzing each image to determine its effect on the Native American community.
“It was pretty clear to me the necessary thing to do was to slow down and evaluate each image,” Cordeiro said. “The community pushback is not because they want to keep everything the way it is. They simply want to have a voice.”
The board finally agreed not to suspend the previous vote but rather to form an advisory committee that would tediously examine all imagery and bring each issue to the board. More details regarding the committee were finalized at the May 27 meeting, including limiting the size to 15 members and that meetings would begin in early September.
The committee was formed July 8 and includes Elias Matisz-Cordero as a student representative. Cordero, 15, is a Carpinteria High School student and was among the group who originally objected to the Native American imagery at a board meeting on March 11. He is part Chumash Indian.
Recalling Grant
Headed by Carpinterian and class of 1980 CHS alum Jeff Moorhouse, WSND began a quick-paced movement in late May to gather the necessary 2,346 signatures for a recall election against Grant. The group kept track of progress on a blog Web site, encouraging supporters to gather signatures outside of Vons grocery store or the post office.
“We went after Beverly (Grant) because her term isn’t up for two more years,” Moorhouse said. “Amrita (Salm) is up for re-election in November, so we weren’t allowed to recall her, and Leslie (Deardorff) has a unique situation in that the person in her seat must live in a certain area (Summerland).”
The group delivered the necessary signatures to the Santa Barbara County Elections Office for validation on June 27. It had 2,576 signatures and needed 2,346 for the recall election. Moorhouse says the group collected 10 percent extra to account for possible unregistered voters.
Down to the wire
Warrior Spirit Never Dies aimed to consolidate the recall election into the Nov. 4 general election, meaning it was in a time crunch to get signatures by the week of June 23.
The school district’s Board of Trustees and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors were scheduled for only one meeting during July, and the results needed to be counted by July 2 to make it onto the agendas. The group needed 2,346.
The result: The group had only 2,257 valid, registered voters who submitted signatures; 155 were deemed not registered to vote in the district, and the remaining had problems with addresses, Moorhouse said. The organization was short 89 signatures.
Future plans
Moorhouse says the group now will focus on supporting candidates in the general election, representing the community and participating in committees to oversee board policy.
“I always look toward the next goal,” Cordeiro said. “Next week I’m going to get in touch with new committee members to get acquainted.”
The committee is still set to begin meeting at the beginning of September.
The Brokenrope Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes Native American culture, will honor Matisz-Cordero at a powwow July 18-20 at Moorpark College. Co-founder Carol Anderson says the group is proud of the student’s courage to speak his mind to the school district.
Noozhawk intern Mollie Helmuth can be reached .
» wrote on 07/13/08 @ 06:14 AM
Typical Moorhouse, all show and no go. Just a local rebel rouser that likes to get HIS name in the paper.
» wrote on 08/24/08 @ 12:06 AM
You people no nothing of honoring Native Americans. There is no honor among mainstream America. Our honor comes for the sacred circle at our powwows and ceremonies performed by our elders and our own people. There is no such thing as mascots and logos in the Native American culture. That is something stupid some non-Native American made up and and a false belief that schools have about Native Americans.
» wrote on 08/25/08 @ 10:42 AM
No mascots and logos, huh? I suppose the elaborate beadwork, quilling, headdresses, blankets, paint, ceremonies and warrior gods were just randomly thrown together just whenever? Every society and culture has mascots and logos so cut the condescension over Indian culture.
» wrote on 08/30/08 @ 12:49 PM
All you have to do is read this John Wayne fan’s passage about all other cultures having mascots and logos (above under “Right” - meaning Right wing Republican-Ronald Reagan fan. I can think of another organization that has three letters that are the same). This is the most white-bread / white-trash, ignorant and especially uneducated standpoint I have ever seen anybody unabashedly say out loud. The problem that exists here is that this obviously white (Nazi) person of Colonial European decent - does not like the real version of American and world history when it comes to the portrayal of anyone but his own cultures take on things. The only “condescension” going on here is his post, and viewpoint that he supports (he uses one of them big and fancy school words too). This all being said by an “educated” Caucasian / white male. Go back to Wal-Mart there Joe Bob and turn on the Nascar races, and or stick to things you know something about.
» wrote on 11/04/08 @ 03:21 PM
I THINK YOU NEED TO LOOK AT THE REAL RECITS HERE!! I AM ALSO NATIVE AMERICAN. I GREW UP IN THAT TOWN AND I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT THE THINGS THEY DID IN THE NAME OF THE WARRIORS WERE NOT DEGRADING. THEY ARE NOT WHITE NAZIS WHO DON’T LIKE THE REAL VERSION OF AMERICAN HISTORY. (IN FACT MOST OF THEM WERE HISPANIC OR OF HISPANIC HERATIGE) BUT THEY WERE MANY PART NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO WANTED NATIVE AMERICANS TO BE KNOWN FOR SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST GAMBLING! WE HAD PRIDE IN OUR SCHOOL AND OUR SYMBOL. WE STOOD BY IT.
I LOVE THAT YOU TRY TO MAKE EDUCATION SOUND LIKE AN INSULT. IT EXPLAINS A LOT ABOUT YOU.
AND FOR YOU THAT SAID TYPICAL MOOREHOUSE...EMILY MOOREHOUSE (THE REAL HEAD OF WARRIOR SPIRT NEVER DIES) IS ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS AND I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT THEY ARE NOT DOING THIS BECAUSE THEY JUST WANT TO SEE THERE NAMES IN THE PAPER!!! THEY BELIEVE IN SOMETHING AND COULDN’T SEE SOMETHING THEY LOVED THAT MENT SOMETHING TO THEM BE DESTROYED LIKE THAT…
SO MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU WANT TO CHANGE SOMETHING LIKE THAT LOOK AT THE ACTUAL PEOPLE EFFECTED. THIS IS CARPINTERIA’S SYMBOL IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!