Concerns raised over City of Santa Maria, high school district use of Columbus ship logo
SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- A Santa Maria resident has raised concerns over the logos used by the City of Santa Maria and Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD).
A Christopher Columbus sailing ship is used by both agencies, which the resident describes as inappropriate due to the explorers "treatment of indigenous peoples in the Americas."
Santa Maria resident Scott Fina voiced his opposition to the logo this week with a letter sent to both the Santa Maria City Council and SMJUHSD.
"We received a letter from a community member concerning using the ship, the Santa Maria, as a logo," said Dr. Jack Garvin, Board of Education President. "Now the school board has been asked to consider and take a look at it. The letter the gentleman wrote was very well thought out, very well documented. We referred it to our staff."
Santa Maria City Manager Jason Stillwell said a summary of the letter will be read during next Tuesday's public comment period.
"It will be information for the City Council to consider and right now they're not in the position to be able to discuss it because it isn't an agendzied item, and they're prohibited by law from discussing items that aren't on the agenda," said Stillwell.
The sailing ship logo is featured prominently around Santa Maria, on street signs, overpasses, city buildings, vehicles and other places.
"It's a trademark of the City," said Stillwell. "It's a trademark we defend. We defend whatever our trademark is and it's something important for us to show as as city to be unified, so we do use that logo on all of our correspondence and our uniforms. It's integrated into our vehicles and other areas where we need to denote the city's logo."
Fina wrote his research indicates the two separate logos used by the City and School District date back at least 50 years.
He added, "Today, a sizeable number of residents of the city and unincorporated areas of the Santa Maria Valley are people of Mixtec and Zapotec ethnicity. The Mixtec and Zapotec peoples are indigenous to the Americas."
Fina wrote a similar four-page letter to SMJUSHD.
In part, it stated, "I note that SMJUHSD’s adoption of its logo was decades prior to when accurate accounts of Columbus’s activities in the Americas became common knowledge. This is also the case with the City of Santa Maria’s adoption of its logo. Nonetheless, I urge the SMJUHSD to replace its logo. I have done the same with the City."
SMJUSHD has agreed to discuss the matter sometime in the near future.
"The board is going to have to consider that it total and that's what we're going to do. I predict in the next couple of months we'll be looking at it," said Garvin. "It will be a good discussion. It will be a healthy discussion. I'm open to having the conversation."
Ultimately, upon discussion between leaders, both governing bodies may decide to remove the ship logo.
"We'll see what direction we get from City Council on this," said Stillwell. "They provide direction at every City Council and we'll carry it out as they direct."
"It's a board decision," said Garvin. "So I as board president have the job of coordinating that, but it's really the board that will talk about it, and decide what they're going to do."
