I agree. We'll need some costumes
Posted on 03/03/2009 4:40:07 PM PST by SJackson
The issue: A proposal to give the state school superintendent the authority to ban Indian nicknames and logos in schools.
Our view: Education and dialogue are working; local school districts don't need an edict.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the saying goes.
To some degree the same applies to racism.
The issue is the long-standing debate over whether American Indian nicknames, logos and mascots are racist. State Rep. Jim Soletski, D-Green Bay, apparently believes so, and he has proposed a bill to make the state superintendent of public instruction judge and jury with the power to fine school districts he or she determines have offending Indian monikers. The bill calls for fines of up to $1,000 a day for violators, a substantial incentive for districts to conform.
"It's 2009. It's time we put this behind us," Soletski told The Associated Press. "It's the Native Americans' heritage, first and foremost. If they're not feeling honored, then it's time to get rid of it."
Through the years the dialogue this issue has created has been instructive. Did anyone look more ill at ease than former President Carter doing the "Tomahawk Chop" at an Atlanta Braves playoff game some years back?
This discussion has enlightened everyone that, for example, Indian headdresses have spiritual significance. Same with tribal dance. It stands to reason many Indians wouldn't be thrilled to have their children attend a school where fans "whoop" it up while somebody from the pep squad imitates an Indian "warrior" in full costume stomping around to inspire the crowd.
Fortunately, these types of scenes have pretty much disappeared from Wisconsin gymnasiums and football fields. Once folks understood this was as offensive to Indians as someone dressing up as a priest swinging a rosary around would be to Catholics, it came to a halt.
But to say any use of Indian nicknames or logos is racist on its face because someone says so is quite a leap. Menomonie High School is familiar with this debate. Its logo - Menomonie doesn't have a mascot - depicts an Indian in a full-feathered headdress encircled by the words "honor, dignity, strength and pride." The majority in Menomonie apparently do not believe this depiction is racist - to the contrary they see it as a sign of respect. They deeply resent a bureaucrat in Madison, a lawmaker in Green Bay or others who know nothing about them suggesting they are racists.
The easy solution is for school districts to pick some nonhuman symbol for their nicknames and logos and be done with it. But some resist, maybe in part because they don't take kindly to threats or being labeled racists if they don't cave.
In South Dakota, at the behest of Indian leaders, work began more than 60 years ago to carve a likeness of Oglala Lakota leader Crazy Horse into the side of a mountain to honor him and all Indian people. Some apparently feel that Indians can honor Crazy Horse with such a likeness, but white folks shouldn't honor Indians in such a way because it's not their place to do it, even if they do so with respect.
As much as we hate labels, doesn't that seem a little racist?
True, not all Indian likenesses are racist. Probably most. But in difficult economic times the state should be able to fine local school districts $1,000 a day if they want. As long as the federal government will replenish the locals funds.
Florida State University has the Seminoles football team. The NCAA told them to get a new name until the real Seminole tribe intervened and said they like it just the way it is
The Seminoles have casinos so Seminole football is free advertising-— free name penetration
At one time the powers to be at the school tried to become PC about the whole thing and take the NH Red Skins away and the alumni consisting of various racial origins said no.
The native American Indians of the area said that it was a show of honor for the mascots and that the Indians use to camp at that site where the school is now.
So not all people are against the use of human mascots to identify their schools with.
Now all we need is horse's asses politicians to shove their agenda down our throats. Wake up America, it's Liberal Democrats that are taking over all our rights and freedoms.
It's really strange.
Kind of like forcing all those Eastern Europeans to add vowels to their names while shortening them to no more than 5 syllables.
Not long after the University of Illinois got rid of Chief Illiniwek, a friend commented, correctly, that within a few years no U of I students will have a clue that someone lived here before the Daleys arrived.
Only leftist nitwits can think that human sports mascots are a dishonor. With the exception of a few oddities usually tied to local history (the OU Sooners, the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Washburn Icabods spring readily to mind sitting here in Kansas) human mascots are usually chosen as a tribute to martial virtue (often martial virtue in a loosing cause):
The Minnesota Vikings and lots of small college and high school teams named the ‘Vikings’ in areas settled by Scandinavians, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, and (one of may favorites) the Yeshiva University Maccabees are all examples of this where folks of the same ethnicity chose to honor their warlike forebearers in this way. The USC Trojans, teams named the Cavaliers, or the Knights, or the Crusaders, just as the Braves, Chiefs, Seminoles, and the like do not dishonor those who fought under that name long-ago.
Only leftist loons who do not understand the concept of martial virtue seem to think so, and I would submit they should be resisted when in power, and devoutly ignored when just making noise about the issue.
“State Rep. Jim Soletski, D-Green Bay”
Maybe we can raise a statue of Poles grinding a Nazi face, that looks like Soletski, into the dirt. Of course, that would fly completely over the head of this little fascist puke Soletski. I like my Anishnabe Indian friends. He wouldn’t know the difference between a medicine lodge (midiwin) and a whore who soaps him up in the shower.
Well, we called them “braves” and “warriors”.
Noble savages, so to speak.
All honorable designations.
But I guess we were wrong, because seems they are more of the whining, wuss, wimp type.
I wonder how long it would be until their were complaints that all the school mascots were European.
Want some attention, go with Crusaders.
It's a conspiracy I tell you, a dadgum conspiracy against the Indians!
Many of the Indian warriors were outstandingly brave. They faced incredible odds as they defended their homelands against an enemy they couldn’t understand.
Almost without exception they fiercely fought the enemy, often giving their very lives in a hopeless battle, yet they fought on.
These are not the kind of people Liberals want remembered, in fact, they want to erase any and every thought that such bravery even once existed. Liberals hate the idea of bravery nearly as much as they hate a capitalist America.
To remember a brave Indian is to inspire others to live and act with bravery.
That’s why every vestige of brave Indians must be removed from our very memories. Indians are to be remembered as nothing more than drunken bums, victims of white, capitalist Americans, dependent on government for their very livelihood.
You’ve been hanging around the wrong crowd. Me and several of my cousins have gone through the military. Thats not indicative of being wimps and whiners. We work and are responsible adults.
Don’t let the bad apples give you the wrong impression.
We had a Navy squadron called the Clansmen. That got even more attention.
Although he doesn't quite "fit" in the 21st century, he nearly succeeded in escaping from one of the largest manhunts in history, and evaded nearly the entire New York State Police force.
He was eventually caught by the Pennsylvania State Police when he surrendered. Friends believed he gave up only because he ran out of weapons.
He'd left them behind when he had to bail out of a moving automobile to evade police capture.
For a while he was a folkhero in the area. In reality he has some problems with authority, but he's definitely a tough cookie. Back in the day his people RAN most of the East Coast of North America. They earned that position after having been slaves to the Huron for many centuries.
Come the next Ice Age folks will think it good to have men like him around. For the moment, it's a GW civilization and this guy has to be locked up.
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