Editorial: North Hills decision is unsatisfying compromise
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Sometimes compromise is a good thing.
It brings people together on a middle ground where everyone can agree to work together. That’s how houses are sold, with people arriving at a price one party is willing to pay and the other is willing to accept. That’s how employment contracts are negotiated, as the company and the workers agree on a balance that everyone finds doable.
But sometimes compromise satisfies no one.
If Dad wants to watch football and the kids want to watch a Disney movie, it isn’t a compromise to land on a Peanuts cartoon with Lucy pulling the football away before Charlie Brown can kick it. Instead, you have something that on the surface might seem like middle ground but in reality leaves everyone feeling shorted.
The North Hills School District decision on its logo and mascot name might be that kind of compromise.
In a meeting last week, the board voted, 7-2, to chuck the logo — a profile of a Native American chief in full headdress. However, the district will retain the name “Indians” for its teams.
It has been a fraught issue in multiple areas with names that nod to Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Indigenous roots but which some find offensive. It is the same struggle that led to the Cleveland Indians becoming the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington NFL team dropping its racist moniker to become the Commanders.
North Hills is not the only local area to deal with name changes. Last month, Squaw Run stream was renamed Sycamore Run. Fox Chapel is likewise removing the word “squaw” — an epithet for woman — from borough names.
North Hills had people on both sides of the issue during meetings, and hundreds of people signed letters pushing for removal of the logo.
But keeping the team name seems like malicious compliance. Yes, the board is acknowledging the issue with the logo, but by remaining the Indians on the field, won’t the people who had a problem with the logo feel like they weren’t really heard?
At best, it seems like just kicking the can and hoping someone else will have to deal with it later. At worst, it’s pulling the name change off the table just like Lucy did with that football.