About 6.25% of me cares. Oh wait. No, it doesn't.
Whether you're a sports fan or not, you probably are at least somewhat familiar with the controversy with American Indian/Native American/American Aboriginal/Native Population team names in sports. This, and similar concerns, has caused colleges in particular to change their team nicknames, like St. John's University going from the Red Men to the Red Storm (if there are the Green Wave and the Crimson Tide, I guess that makes as much sense); Miami University changing from the Redskins to the RedHawks (though it's worth noting that the university itself is still named after a tribe); Syracuse University shortening their nickname from the Orangemen to the Orange to the delight of carrot addicts everywhere, and Marquette University changing their name from the Warriors to the Golden Eagles, considering the Warriors again before deciding on the Gold, and back to the Golden Eagles once again. For now.
This is not to say I don't believe any of the images/nicknames referring American Indians should be done away with; I can certainly understand the distaste some have with the Washington Redskins. (Interestingly, they were the Boston Braves, the same as the baseball team that later moved to Milwaukee and is now in Atlanta. You'd think that owner could have come up with Warriors, or Chiefs -- the change took place well before Kansas City's team was formed -- or something a bit less, well, pointed, even in the early 20th Century.) To be honest though, the nickname makes me much more uneasy than any other Native-derived nickname only when I think about it for a while; I do not go out of my way to avoid using it.
Closer to home for me, at least if you ignore the relative distance of Marquette, is the issue of the mascot of the University of Illinois. Chief Illiniwek, after years of protest, is finally being retired. The Chief, as those who admired the mascot called him, danced in what was almost assuredly not completely authentic Native fashion during Illini basketball and football games. The outfit that Illiniwek wore, on the other hand, was authentic; it was made and purchased from a Sioux tribesman some twenty-five years ago. While I won't say that he couldn't been seen as offensive, I can't see anything he did being any worse than the ritual by Chief Osceola of Florida State University, and he and the nickname are supported by the Seminole tribe. (Probably because the Seminoles aren't hypersensitive wusses.)
Illiniwek has brought many different emotions to many different people, but something I want to share with you is a quote from an Associated Press article on the controversy. A Lakota Sioux graduate student -- and I should emphasize graduate student at this point -- attending Illinois by the name of Genevieve Tenoso shared her thoughts, that according to the article "helped create an atmosphere in which she didn't feel safe on campus."
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"I haven't had one single day on this campus when something didn't remind me of the Indian you prefer me to be rather than the living, breathing native person that I am."
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The first time I read that sentence, the stupidity was simply overwhelming. After taking a few moments to allow my brain to recover, I was able to analyze just how moronic that was, and indeed, it is only a level of idiocy that could be obtained by a graduate student.
First, the recruitment materials almost certainly featured sports, and if they did, they likely would have had some image of Illiniwek. (I'll give her the benefit of a doubt that she might not be a sports fan, and hence, she might not have seen Illiniwek on television on the numerous hours of coverage University of Illinois sports receives. Don't let it be said that I'm not fair.) Even if there is no picture of the mascot, the nickname of the school teams is "the Illini", and I know she knew that.
Furthermore, most people research and visit the campus of the college that they plan on attending, and if you're a graduate school candidate, I don't think it is possible not to visit. And since she's Lakota, not Amish, she has electricity, and so she has had the opportunity to look at the University of Illinois website. Is she seriously telling me she had no idea ahead of time about the allegedly Native-hostile atmosphere at Illinois?
But most importantly, what in the goddamn hell does that sentence mean? Does she seriously equate a guy in a costume with what people think she should be? Are there people dancing around her doing war chants everyday? Has someone walked up to her and told her she'd make a great mascot? Or that she'd look great in a headdress? Or asked her not to scalp them? I'll bet almost no one who's seen her at Illinois even knew she was Native American or, for that matter, was on campus, let alone care enough to think about what Indian they "prefer" her to be. If she's that damn sensitive, why did she go to Illinois? In fact, why did she even consider it?
Oh well. Hopefully poor, harried Ms. Tenoso can rest easier now that big old mean Chief Illiniwek will soon be no more.
This is not to say I don't believe any of the images/nicknames referring American Indians should be done away with; I can certainly understand the distaste some have with the Washington Redskins. (Interestingly, they were the Boston Braves, the same as the baseball team that later moved to Milwaukee and is now in Atlanta. You'd think that owner could have come up with Warriors, or Chiefs -- the change took place well before Kansas City's team was formed -- or something a bit less, well, pointed, even in the early 20th Century.) To be honest though, the nickname makes me much more uneasy than any other Native-derived nickname only when I think about it for a while; I do not go out of my way to avoid using it.
Closer to home for me, at least if you ignore the relative distance of Marquette, is the issue of the mascot of the University of Illinois. Chief Illiniwek, after years of protest, is finally being retired. The Chief, as those who admired the mascot called him, danced in what was almost assuredly not completely authentic Native fashion during Illini basketball and football games. The outfit that Illiniwek wore, on the other hand, was authentic; it was made and purchased from a Sioux tribesman some twenty-five years ago. While I won't say that he couldn't been seen as offensive, I can't see anything he did being any worse than the ritual by Chief Osceola of Florida State University, and he and the nickname are supported by the Seminole tribe. (Probably because the Seminoles aren't hypersensitive wusses.)
Illiniwek has brought many different emotions to many different people, but something I want to share with you is a quote from an Associated Press article on the controversy. A Lakota Sioux graduate student -- and I should emphasize graduate student at this point -- attending Illinois by the name of Genevieve Tenoso shared her thoughts, that according to the article "helped create an atmosphere in which she didn't feel safe on campus."
----------
"I haven't had one single day on this campus when something didn't remind me of the Indian you prefer me to be rather than the living, breathing native person that I am."
----------
The first time I read that sentence, the stupidity was simply overwhelming. After taking a few moments to allow my brain to recover, I was able to analyze just how moronic that was, and indeed, it is only a level of idiocy that could be obtained by a graduate student.
First, the recruitment materials almost certainly featured sports, and if they did, they likely would have had some image of Illiniwek. (I'll give her the benefit of a doubt that she might not be a sports fan, and hence, she might not have seen Illiniwek on television on the numerous hours of coverage University of Illinois sports receives. Don't let it be said that I'm not fair.) Even if there is no picture of the mascot, the nickname of the school teams is "the Illini", and I know she knew that.
Furthermore, most people research and visit the campus of the college that they plan on attending, and if you're a graduate school candidate, I don't think it is possible not to visit. And since she's Lakota, not Amish, she has electricity, and so she has had the opportunity to look at the University of Illinois website. Is she seriously telling me she had no idea ahead of time about the allegedly Native-hostile atmosphere at Illinois?
But most importantly, what in the goddamn hell does that sentence mean? Does she seriously equate a guy in a costume with what people think she should be? Are there people dancing around her doing war chants everyday? Has someone walked up to her and told her she'd make a great mascot? Or that she'd look great in a headdress? Or asked her not to scalp them? I'll bet almost no one who's seen her at Illinois even knew she was Native American or, for that matter, was on campus, let alone care enough to think about what Indian they "prefer" her to be. If she's that damn sensitive, why did she go to Illinois? In fact, why did she even consider it?
Oh well. Hopefully poor, harried Ms. Tenoso can rest easier now that big old mean Chief Illiniwek will soon be no more.