Braving a Name Change at Alma Mater

Last year, Van Nuys resident JIM PITILLO was angry when he learned that his old high school football team, the Birmingham High Braves, was going to change its name and mascot to the “Patriots” to avoid offending Native Americans. Pitillo spoke with RACHEL FISCHER about his fight to preserve the mascot.

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After the school board ruled that calling the school’s sports team the Birmingham High Braves was racist--same with the University High Warriors and the Gardena High Mohicans--my friends and I made T-shirts saying, “Save the Braves.” We sold them at football games, but were stopped by the school police.

The Birmingham Brave is an image that is meant to invoke pride; it’s not cartoonish, like the image for the Cleveland Indians. In that case, I understand that it can be offensive to Native Americans. How can a proud Indian brave be offensive to anyone?

We had no other recourse but to sue the school district last spring. We lost--the suit was thrown out of court--and we decided not to appeal. It came down to a David-and-Goliath thing: A small group of us who had graduated from the school were paying for this. I probably put in $5,000 or $6,000.

The school put together the numbers for changing everything--the logo on the track, the uniforms--and estimated it would cost $250,000. They never asked the community how we felt about the issue. The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They could have used all that money for something else. The Arcadia High Apaches did it better: Students voted on changing the name and, after it was decided to keep it the same, everyone was required to read about the [real] Apaches.

Nobody is denying that Native Americans have been through hell in this country, but in this case, the school board just caved in to pressure.

I graduated from Birmingham in 1964 and have had five kids graduate from there. I was told that the Braves mascot was really inspired by Chief Pontiac, a great Indian peacemaker. I was never anything but proud to be a Birmingham Brave, and I still am. Where is this political correctness going to end?