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Loading ...Ohboyohboy, isn’t this going to be interesting. The PC Police are, of course, all up in arms about this–but Sioux fans like me are pretty happy, as are fans of Alcorn State, Felony Florida State, Central Michigan, Arkansas State, Illinois, University of Utah, and a whole raft of other schools that have First Nations (or, for those of you south of 49, Native American) mascots.
What’s funny is that the tribes that have said “Hey, we don’t mind because they’re showing us respect”–like, for example, the Seminoles of Florida, the Utes of northern Utah (which, by the by, is where Salt Lake City and the University of Utah are located), and the scattered bands of Sioux in North Dakota and (of ALL places) Minnesota that have said they have no problem–are being ignored in the great rush to be offended.
I’m having so much trouble wrapping my brain around this, seriously. If I were part Lakota, I seriously think that I’d be honored as a fan by UND having the Sioux nickname, especially since UND has tried hard in recent years to promote a better understanding by their athletes of where the name comes from and the history of the people that bear the name. I don’t think my ancestors would give a damn, were I Lakota–after all, UND’s hockey team has been a very strong program for many a year and they’ve done fairly well in other sports too. Surely if they objected, then UND wouldn’t amount to anything in any sport at any time, ever.
But what do I know, right? I’m just some cracker in North Carolina whose Ojibwe blood can only be measured in tablespoons. Not like I grew up a stone’s throw from an reservation or have kin who have had to put up with the systematic bungling of Native affairs by the federal gubmint for the last 150 years. Not like I witnessed the results of that bungling firsthand or anything. No, I just don’t know anything about the travails of the Native Americans.
I’m also the King of Siam.
I can see changing names like “Redmen” or “Savages”. That, I can see. But “Seminoles”? “Sioux”? What, are these tribes ashamed of their names all of a sudden? How the Hel does having that name demean somebody or perpetuate a stereotype? When I see “University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux”, I think of warriors that kicked the shit out of some idiot that finished dead freaking last at West Point and fought tooth and nail to keep from knuckling under to a bunch of armed bullies. I think of a proud people, a people that need to call upon the might and main of their ancestors and fight tooth and nail to get out from under the burden that’s been repeatedly jackhammered down on their heads by numerous US administrations that couldn’t honor a treaty to save their souls. That’s what I think of. I don’t think of poverty and drunkenness and nasty-ass gubmint cheese. I think of pride and strength and honor. That’s what I think of, and maybe it’s time for other people to think of that too.
Here’s an idea:/p>
Maybe I should file a protest with the NFL over the existence of the Minnesota Vikings. I, as an American of Scandinavian descent, object in the strongest possible terms to my ancestors being painted as nothing but a bunch of barbarian raiders that sacked and burned monasteries for loot, provided some extra spice to the genebase of the Russian people, traded all over the place, pioneered such concepts as equal rights for women, formed the world’s oldest standing legislative body, and discovered North America long before some Vespa-riding espresso-sipping pizza-eating Spanish-financed Italian did.
AND FURTHERMORE, as a peripheral descendant of that Vespa-riding espresso-sipping pizza-eating Spanish-financed Italian, I also object in the strongest possible terms to a team whose name implies that my people didn’t discover the New World first. How dare the NFL insult and oppress the Nordic AND Italian peoples like that by allowing one of their teams to have the name “Vikings”!
So what’s in a name? Six of one, a half-dozen of another.
So ‘now’ the man is coming to the rescue of the natives? Why the hell should they care about this now?
There’s another way to look at this. Not all natives are honored by teams using names such as Sioux, Seminoles, etc. Here’s a short analogy to explain why:
Say you were promised a promotion and a big corner office at work. Then your boss reneged at the last minute, gave the promotion and office to someone else. But then he tells you that he’s naming the break room in your honor. You wouldn’t be at all insulted? You wouldn’t think, “If you want to honor me, treat me fairly and with respect, not the window dressing of an empty gesture?”
That’s why your Vikings analogy, while funny, is not relevant. Vikings were never systematically oppressed, slaughtered, cheated, etc.
I know I’m being Mr Serious No Fun Guy here, but is it really so hard to see why not all Natives see it as an ‘honor’? And by the way, the implication seems to be that “they” don’t mind. This is certainly not entirely true. Here’s the position taken by The American Indian Movement:
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/
So ‘now’ the man is coming to the rescue of the natives? Why the hell should they care about this now?
You got me there.
Say you were promised a promotion and a big corner office at work. Then your boss reneged at the last minute, gave the promotion and office to someone else. But then he tells you that he’s naming the break room in your honor. You wouldn’t be at all insulted? You wouldn’t think, “If you want to honor me, treat me fairly and with respect, not the window dressing of an empty gesture?”
That’s as bad and ludicrous as my Vikings analogy was (note: I was being intentionally over-the-top with it). Were this still the 1870s I could see it. But now? Not seeing it.
Well said. If I were a Native, I’d be insulted that the White Man feels the need to speak on my behalf. I can understand that some of the names should probably be shitcanned (like the Redskins), but most of the names are fairly tame and the Native groups wouldn’t get much notice otherwise.