A recent “proposed deal” is being offered by the New York State Education Department, whereby if certain school districts choose to change the nickname of their school, their academic teams, and their athletic teams, then the aid they receive from taxpayers’ dollars might not fall in jeopardy of being withheld. I’ve watched enough police/law programs on television, to be able to compare this proposal as something that could possibly be classified as maybe being a shakedown, or holding school districts hostage, both situations that might fall under the heading of illegal activity, depending on who you ask.

I understand the Education Department’s wanting to eliminate nicknames that are racial, offensive, and/or demeaning. I see the reason behind changing caricatures that may paint bad images of any group or individual, but as this issue has come to light more and more, it’s becoming easier to see that there’s way too much grey area with regard to which schools with certain names and certain cheers, are showing disrespect, or honor to groups, and which aren’t. There’s also a lot of just looking at a word, without looking at the synonyms of those nicknames, which are not on the chopping block.

To begin with, from the time I knew what baseball was, until 68 years old, I was a Cleveland Indian fan. I’ve amassed a huge collection of memorabilia including pictures, bobbleheads, autographed baseballs, baseball cards, ticket stubs, pins, and much more from my days as an Indian Baseball fan. Last season, the name and logo changed, rumored as part of a deal between the present commissioner of MLB and owners of the then, Indians, now Guardians. I wasn’t a fan of the change at first, but came to understand that it was offensive to some, and my love for baseball in Cleveland allowed me to accept the change. Note, I’m still an Indians fan of their past and history, but will always be a Cleveland Baseball fan.

I participate on social media sports fan pages, and there are some Cleveland fans who sound like they’d disown their very best friend, if they said they word Guardians. I love the game too much to stop watching Cleveland Baseball, and I value my friends too much to lose any of them over something like this. I didn’t consider myself a racist because I pulled for the Indians, I considered myself a baseball fan.

I realize the word Tribe has Native American Indian connotations, though not exclusive to just Native Americans. The definition of the word tribe from the Oxford Languages is a “social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader.” In terms of a group of society consisting of communities and people who are linked by their love of baseball, with a common culture and dialect, would it have been derogatory to have the team be called the Cleveland Tribe?

In fairness, and I know some will disagree and some will say I’m wishy-washy, ownership did find a name with historical connections to the city, kept the uniforms virtually the same, the scoreboard design the same, and kept the history of Indians baseball intact.

I was a teacher in Jamestown, N.Y., for over 30 years. I also coached in the Jamestown Red Raiders Football program for 13 years, and Red Raiders Baseball program for 11 years, nine of those as the head coach. I wore Raiders across my chest for many years, and never felt doing that was racial in any way.

As with my pride being a Cleveland Baseball fan, I was proud to have coached the Red Raiders, but I also don’t want to disrespect anyone so I, in my mind, can agree to meet half way, but it doesn’t appear the State Ed. Department is either willing to do the same, or hasn’t done their due diligence in making this “proposal” to those schools using the nickname, Raiders.

Using the same Oxford Languages dictionary, one synonym of Raider is, a marauder.” Question, if a synonym of raider is marauder, are the six New York State schools using Marauders as their nickname, being offered the same “deal” as those using Raiders?

Another question has to address how state education department leaders can withhold aid for educational programs, which, last I knew, is the main purpose of schools, giving students as much as they can have to amass the greatest amounts of knowledge to be productive citizens in society. So, essentially is this holding the students hostage until this situation is resolved?

Jamestown’s rebranded their logo, not once, but twice in the last decade plus, they’ve spent much money redesigning their track and football complex, their gymnasium, and now are being forced to replace all teams’ uniforms, at great expense, when the definition of the word Raiders really has no mention of any specific group, as is true with the word Tribe.

This issue has many question marks dealing with many teams on all levels from professional to college to high school, but in terms of the latter, don’t use something designed to help our students and children become the best they can be, as a bargaining chip, because they’ll end up being the ultimate losers.