R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press
Statues of Native Americans in Gladstone’s Van Cleve Park are shown. These cement figures, circa 1910, were repaired and restored by a collaboration between the Gladstone Parks and Recreation Department and the Hannahville Indian Community last fall and this spring. A grant was recently given to Gladstone Area Public Schools to allow for their further protection and maintenance.

GLADSTONE — The Native American Heritage Fund (NAHF) recently issued Gladstone Area Public Schools $18,575.05 as part of a larger, ongoing initiative to improve, promote and restore positive relationships with tribal communities, education surrounding Native American culture, and respectful representation in schools and governments around Michigan. A total of ten schools this year were given grants from the NAHF, which arose as a response to calls for civil rights reforms, specifically in regards to the representation of Indigenous peoples.

In 2003, the Michigan Board of Education resolved to promote “curricula that is fair, appropriate, and accurate in depicting the cultures and histories of all people” and recommended “the elimination of American Indian mascots, nicknames, logos, fight songs, insignias, antics, and team descriptors by all Michigan schools.” That resolution was reaffirmed in 2010 under Governor Jennifer Granholm after concern was raised about the number of institutions that continued to employ Native American mascots and other imagery.

In 2013, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education asking them to prohibit the use of American Indian mascots “due to evidence that the imagery negatively impacts student learning and creates an unequal learning environment in violation of Article VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” A few months later, a response from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights declared that they were dismissing the complaints based on a lack of specific examples of race-based incidents and insufficient evidence of a “racially hostile environment.”

Despite the refusal of national assistance in the mission, the NAHF was created in 2016 through an amendment to the Tribal-State Gaming Compact between the State of Michigan and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP). Beginning with an initial fund balance of $500,000, the NAHF has distributed money annually since 2018 in lump sums to certain educational and governmental bodies for the express purpose of removing offensive elements and providing resources to improve curricula.

Each fiscal year, the fund is restored to $500,000.

Between six and 11 NAHF grants have been distributed each year, ranging from a couple thousand dollars to over a hundred thousand, depending on the scope of the particulars, which have been different in each case. Some past recipients have included:

– The largest single sum — $334,690.60 — went to Belding Area Schools “to support the replacement of equipment, apparel and signage following the revision of the school’s mascot from Redskins to Black Knights.”

– The City of Battle Creek received $3,377.50 towards the replacement of a stained glass window in city hall. The previous window had borne a soldier fighting a Native American; the new one depicts City Hall itself.

– In 2018, Michigan Technological University was granted $30,488 to co-create educational programs with Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College.

– Northern Michigan University was given $134,612.80 in 2019 to expand Anishinabek language course offerings at undergraduate and graduate levels.

– Also in 2019, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools received $98,000 for rebranding. They had been the “Lee Rebels” with a Confederate soldier mascot; now, they’re the “Legends,” represented by a dragon.

– In 2024, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools was issued $145,894.40 to help replace their high school’s mascot. In 2023, their school board had voted to change from “Chiefs” to “Cobras.”

In Gladstone, there does not appear to be any intention to replace the “Braves” as the school mascot. Different objectives are in place.

The money issued to Gladstone Area Public Schools, according to the NAHF, is “to maintain and protect Native American statues that have been in their park since 1988 and to implement educational and community engagement initiatives.”

The statues in question, a series of five Native American adults in post-European-contact garb plus a couple smaller sculptures, were constructed downstate around 1910 and stood on private land in a couple locations before being moved to Van Cleve Park in 1988. Most recently, they were repaired and repainted within the past year, primarily by volunteers from the Nah Tah Wahsh Public School Academy in the Hannahville Indian Community.

Duane Kinnart of Gladstone was reportedly behind the drive to restore and protect the statues. For the upcoming projects, he enlisted the help of Gladstone Area Schools’ Indian Education Coordinator, Megan Lukezich, who applied for the NAHF grant.

Gladstone Parks and Recreation Director Wendy Taavola said that a group has been formed and is working on a plan for how to proceed.

The aim now is to construct a shelter with a roof to shield the statues from the weather, install new plaques and add a bench. According to Lukezich, if funds remain after the main structure is built, the group will look into planting sweetgrass, sage and cedar — plants sacred in Native American culture.