MetroWest Daily News
Monday, February 25, 2008

'Redmen' not derogatory

"Place of hill," that is what the Indians chose to call Natick. They named the town. That being so, why would anyone want to change the school's sports teams name of Redmen? It is most fitting.

Speen Street itself is an old Indian trail the Indians used as a trail to go to what is South Natick. They crossed over what is now Rte. 9. Speen Street is an Indian name after a family named Speen who sued to live on Hartford Street. The trade mark of Natick's Historical Society is a bow and arrow. Eliot Church was originally an Indian meeting house. It was their fifth meeting house, an Indian burial ground on the ground of Bacon Free Library in South Natick, one on Pond Street in Natick and Lookout Farm, originally owned by the Indians.

There is so much more history of the Indians in Natick - why remove the name Redmen from the school teams?

These people were good people to their neighbors, they ended up in poverty and had to sell all their land. The name Redmen at Natick High helps keep the Indian history alive and I really think it's important to do that. What better place than at the school? Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have that as part of a history course if it isn't already.

When a name is given to identify a group, that name is usually in honor of someone or a group so people will remember. In this instance, of a school team that people feel proud of. The school's paper is The Sassamon (at least I don't think that's been changed) and also a golf course, Sassamon Trace in Natick.

Please, Redmen is not and never has been to my knowledge a name that would be derogatory and I truly believe Praying Hands' sensitivity and some others, are misplaced. I'm sorry but I see it as an honor.

Anyone if interested ought to be able to obtain a very interesting "Images of America" by Anne K. Shaller and Janice A. Prescott, Natick Historical Society.

LORRAINE KETCHI,
Natick