The state is getting carefully — too carefully, according to some — into the discussion of high schools in the state that have Native American mascots. Though some, like +Kay Hill's Arapahoe HS Warriors, have relationships with (and approval from) Native American tribes, others do not (see http://goo.gl/OBbMga about the Lamar HS Savages).
It's an interesting situation, paralleled on the national level with Washington's pro football team. The people involved in many of these schools have absorbed the "tribal" symbols and/or names as their own, and, feeling pride in them, are hardpressed to understand why other folk who also associate with those symbols and/or names might take offense.
There's a certain degree to which i can understand people wanting to "grandfather in" these names when they've been used so long (in Lamar's case going on a century at least), but one has to wonder whether they would understand the concern if non-Indian mascots were in question — the Spear-Chuckers, or the Banditos or the Fighting Kamikaze.
I can't think of another still-extant group that faces this kind of thing (thinking nationally) with the possible exception of the Irish, who get both the Celtics and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. But, then, historic anti-Irish prejudice and the social and economic impact of it is long since died out in the US. The same can't be said for that against the Native Americans, and if there's a discomfort (or more there) about being associated as "Savages" and the like without their blessing, I tend to think that should be respected.
Colorado governor creates task force on American Indian mascots
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order for a task force made up of tribes, state agencies and school community leaders to discuss American India
