A local high school band has plans to play at the inaugural of Barack Obama. That's great, of course, as I'm sure it's a treat for the kids. Yet they have one problem: they are the Wyandotte Chiefs, and there's been a bit of a furor about whether they should cover their Chiefs logo on their uniforms. You know, so as not to offend Native Americans.
It looks as though that won't happen, and that's fine: cooler heads appear to be prevailing. Still, it brings up that old issue about what's offensive in names for sports teams and school mascots. Me? I think that generally it's much ado about nothing.
As a Catholic, I am not offended by the San Diego Padres logo of a goofy looking monk swinging a baseball bat. Why should I be? It's all in good fun. As an Irish American, I'm not even bothered by Notre Dame's Fighting Irish and that mean looking two-fisted leprechaun image with which they proudly adorn themselves. Again, it's not meant to provoke the Irish, and I rather like the idea that we descendants of the old sod are seen as rough and tough. If it weren't for Michigan football, I'd root for the Irish on that ground alone. Actually do when they aren't facing the maize and blue.
So why should Native Americans be offended by Chiefs or Hurons or Chippewas or Braves or even Indians? I'll wager that a good many aren't, in fact; they may actually like the references along the lines of myself and the Irish and the Catholics. I will spot them something on Redskins, to be honest, but I'm not saying that all's fair either. Do we really think that a group of citizens are so thin skinned that they can't appreciate a powerful, or even playful, nod towards their culture? If they are, I humbly suggest then that that's their problem.
In short, don't insult or use overtly racist slurs in naming teams and institutions. But don't be a stick in the mud either. It's supposed to be fun, remember?
Or has the left outlawed that too?
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I'm sorry but it's not only about offensiveness but of actual psychological harm to students as documented by empirical research studies.
Partial List of organizations AGAINST ‘Indian’ Nicknames/logos
Advocates for American Indian Children (California)
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
American Counseling Association
American Indian Language and Culture Education Board
American Indian Mental Health Association (Minnesota)
American Indian Movement
American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center of San Bernardino County
American Indian Student Services at the Ohio State University
American Jewish Committee
American Sociological Association
American Psychological Association
Asian American Journalists Association
Associated Students Council of San Diego State University
Association on American Indian Affairs
BRIDGES - Building Roads Into Diverse Groups Empowering Students
Buncombe County Native American Intertribal Association (North Carolina)
Calvert Investment Group
Center for Artistic Revolution (CAR)
Center for the Study of Sports in Society
Cincinnati Zapitista Coalition
COLOR - Community One Love One Race
Committee to End Cultural Genocide (St. Cloud State University)
Concerned American Indian Parents (Minnesota)
Council for Indigenous North Americans (University of Southern Maine)
Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance
Fontana Native American Indian Center, Inc.
Governor's Interstate Indian Council
Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi Indians
HONOR - Honor Our Neighbors Origins and Rights
Illinois State University Student Government Association
Inter-Ethnic Children's Council (Los Angeles)
Inter-Faith Council on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians
Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission
Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council
Hutchinson Human Relations Commission
Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes (Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muskogee (Creek), Cherokee, and Seminole Nations)
Juaneño Band of Mission Indians
Kansas Association for Native American Education
Latino Children's Action Council (Los Angeles)
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians
Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs
Mascot Abuse San Francisco Bay Area
Medicine Wheel Intertribal Association (Louisiana)
Menominee Tribe of Indians (Wisconsin)
Michigan Civil Rights Commission
Michigan Education Association
State of Michigan, State Board of Education
Minnesota Indian Education Association
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board
Minnesota State Board of Education
Modern Language Association
Morning Star Institute
NAACP
National Association of Black Journalists
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
National Association of Social Workers
National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
National Conference of Christians and Jews
National Conference for Community and Justice
National Congress of American Indians
National Education Association
National Indian Education Association
Native American Caucus of the California Democratic Party
Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio
New Hampshire State Board of Education
New York State Education Department
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi
Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs
Native American Journalists Association
North American Society for the Sociology of Sport
North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs
North Dakota Indian Education Association
North Dakota State University Student Senate
Office of Native American Ministry, Diocese of Grand Rapids
Ohio Center for Native American Affairs
Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin
Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative
Rainbow Coalition
San Bernardino/Riverside Counties Native American Community Council
Students Making All Races Tolerant (SMART)
Society of Indian Psychologists of the Americas
Society for the Study of Social Problems
Southern California Indian Center
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
St. Cloud State University - American Indian Center
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Tennessee Chapter of the National Coalition for the Preservation of Indigenous Cultures
Tennessee Native Veterans Society
Unified Coalition for American Indian Concerns, Virginia
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ
The United Indian Nations of Oklahoma
United Methodist Church
United States Commission on Civil Rights
Virginia American Indian Cultural Resource Center
Western North Carolina Citizens for an End to Institutionalized Bigotry
Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ Wisconsin Council of Churches
Wisconsin Educational Association Council (WEAC)
Wisconsin Indian Education Association
WIEA "Indian" Mascot and Logo Taskforce (Wisconsin)
Wisconsin State Human Relations Association
Woodland Indian Community Center-Lansing
Youth ‘Indian’ Mascot and Logo Taskforce (Wisconsin)
(Source: American Indian Sports Team Mascots, http://aistm.org/fr.groups.htm plus additions.)
Note: there are additional organizations opposing ‘Indian’ nicknames not on the AISTM list.
(Note that no credible educational, psychological, civil rights, religious, American Indian or professional organization has passed a resolution endorsing the general concept of race-based ‘Indian’ nicknames in schools.)
Good Morning gunderso!
Thank you for commenting, and posting the list. I appreciate your thoughts and views on the issue.
Still, I have to say that a list of people in favor of a given position does not make that position right, and may in fact be a clue towards a bias of their own. Why is it that Indian nicknames (and are they really nicknames, given that so often it is the name of a tribe which is used, al a with Europeans, the Irish?) are held to a higher standard than others? It isn't as though there aren't arguably poor mascots among non-Native Americans: Wake Forest teams are known as the Demon Deacons and I hear no hue and cry against that. And as I said in the post, I hear no condemnation from Rome about that goofy Padre. Perhaps these people are being told that they'd being discriminated against and sold on that. Jealousy is a powerful tool.
Your list reads like a who's who among academics and leftists: sociologists and psychologists are notorious for supporting unempirical data, quite frankly. What's so empirical about people telling people how they feel? Further, it is fair to ask whether the feelings are valid. Maybe their attitudes need changing.
That isn't to say that a real harm may not be involved. But I am skeptical. I think that people are bigger than that.
Do you have any similar proof that Fighting Irish makes Native students at Notre Dame feel superior to European students?
As a bit of an aside, I have been told that the current Wyandot chief supports the school. There are Native American groups who have no problem with the nicknames either.
Thank again for expressing your concerns. I really do appreciate that, and invite contrary opinions here.
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