Some important things to keep in mind when communicating with these schools, school officials, school board officials, politicians, and even the media; They are quite serious in most cases about the idea that they are showing the Indian people honor by using us as a mascot. That may sound strange, but in many cases it is true. They need to be educated to the facts, but not attacked for what they believe. Try to treat them with the Respect and Honor that they are claiming to be treating us with. They are going to be very resistant to change - be patient - keep trying to educate, and avoid the temptation to loose your temper. I know from experience that it is both easy to loose your temper, and that it's better not to. The best approach is to contact people in a particular order. If the school official(s) have an email address, I have tried to supply a convienient click to email link on the listing for the school. Use that first. If no email is available, then use the postal address. If you get no response, or if you get a response that indicates it would be hopeless to continue dealing with the school, then it's time to move up to the next level. If you have an email or postal mail response from the school, then by all means forward it along with your complaint to the next level. It can speed up the process if they know you have already made contact at the lower level, and are now escalating it to their level. Keep the lower level contacts informed that you have carried it to the next level. If you need to, don't be shy about taking it to state Reps or Senators, or even to U.S. Reps and Senators if necessary. When speaking to media people, be careful of how you word things. They like to chop down a long quote to a few words fro it, so try to give them a prepared short quote they can use - then give a longer explanation of what that means. That way if they only use the short few words, they are more likely to use your quote intact. We at AICS would like to be informed of your progress, which state, which school, that you are dealing with etc. You can feel free to include us on a CC: when you write, or you can forward messages to us, or just drop us a line to let us know. Email: AICS@aics.org Feel free to write and ask questions also. If you think we can assist by getting involved, write and tell us what has been done so far, and who you have delt with, and ask us to join in.