The NCAA Native American Imagery Thing
There's a few hundred posts and articles about this already, but I wonder how much different it would be if the Chief were done away with, and the word "fighting" was removed, and the teams were just "The Illini." No frightening imagery, no flare ups over the mascot, no harmful sounding adjectives. Just the Illini name kept as a tribute. The orange "I" in the middle of a circle of blue as the logo. No chief dances at half time, just a band and dance routine, with the alma mater song. Seems simple enough to me. Is it possible that the Illini tribe and the UofI could live with something like this? I'm not pro or anti chief. I support the teams because they are the state school of my home state, and because that's who I grew up rooting for. Those things aren't going to change just because a mascot or a team name does.
posted by greymatter @ 12:26 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Such a change won't make a bit of difference to the Illini tribe, as they've been extinct for several hundred years. The people claiming a current injury from Chief Illiniwek are mostly white, liberal permanent protestors who are slaves to the Political Correctness agenda. The few Natives who are opposed to the Chief and claim that he's "hostile and abusive" are national, movement-type activists who have no connection to the Illini. But yet the NCAA allows these people to dictate policy despite the overwhelming majority of people, Natives included, who see no harm in keeping the Chief and team nicknames.
IP,
It's dissapointing to have all the negativity surrounding an otherwise great public institution. Seems like the fly is permanently stuck in the ointment. If people could throw that energy into something a little more worthwile to humanity (supporting funding for education of Native Americns, for example) at least they'd have something to show for it at the end. It's a bit ridiculous.
Seems to me the people who are screaming and howling away at the moon to save the Chief and his creepy half-time dance are largely white, childish, obsessed sports fans who don't have a drop of American Indian blood in them of any sort...oh, except for that Cherokee Princess somewhere in their backgrounds, yeah, that's right.
Weren't the Illini massacred, unarmed, by Iroquois with guns they got from the Dutch? In any case, if the Illini are extinct, why would you want them for a mascot, anyways? Doesn't seem like the "noble savage" metaphor is one a football team would really want to identify with--if you think about it, the conventional narrative goes that Indian warriors fought well and honorably, but they were still defeated by superior firepower and technology.
Me, I'm a fan of the Fightin' Whities! With a name like that, they're the ones to beat!
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