Posted on 10/01/2011 12:21:27 PM PDT by Jean S
Judge rules DPI administrative hearing on matter was unfair
A Waukesha County judge has ruled that the state's effort to strip Mukwonago High School of its Indians nickname was unconstitutional because an administrative hearing on the case was unfair.
Circuit Judge Donald Hassin Jr. granted summary judgment Thursday in favor of two residents who challenged the 2010 state law that allowed complaints about Indian nicknames and mascots.
While he did not find the law itself unconstitutional, he said found it "an uncommonly silly law," quoting from a famous U.S. Supreme Court case on privacy. But eliminating it, Hassin wrote, is up to the Legislature.
Hassin did agree with residents James Schoolcraft and Craig Vertz that the law, as applied against Mukwonago schools, was unconstitutional because the decision maker - a Department of Public Instruction employee named Paul Sherman - had an impermissibly high risk of bias.
In a 22-page ruling, Hassin recounted the history of the complaint against Mukwonago schools, the August 2010 hearing at which the school district had to try to rebut a presumption that its Indians name and mascot were discriminatory, and how various constitutional analyses applied.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Wisconsin ping!
It is high time sensible people called this stuff SILLY because that is what it is.
I am amazed and pleased that Wisconsin is becoming the eat of sanity in this country.
I’ve been around Indians all of my life. I was a minority in elementary and high school. I work with Indians now. In all my years, I have never once heard even one of them complain about this. A lot of them are hardcore Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians fans and they wear all of the “team gear” for those teams. This is just a bunch of white college commie kid nonsense.
Wouldn’t “Mukwonago” be an Indian name? Maybe they should change the name of the town as well. Something like “Bubbling Brook” or “Maplecrest?” Only Gaia could take offense.
Ridicule is one the ultimate weapons in a struggle against anything. This judge essentially ridiculed the whole suit and can now be quoted in future such cases.
I’ve always thought that Beef Wellington was the eat of sanity, but I’ve been out of circulation for a few years.
I’ve never understood this assault on indian school team names except as the bleat of the terminally offended. I mean, a school team name is typically chosen to imply something strong, worthy, and fierce; Eagles, Wolverines, Warriors, Braves. No one is going to name a team the Fighting Politicians or the Screaming Comunity Organizers.
Don’t forget the Chiefs of Kansas City, Florida Seminoles and my favorite the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota.
The people of North Dakota have embraced the logo. Every race here has a fighting Sioux shirt.
Political correctness says that we’re supposed to be offended by Indian nicknames. We’re supposed to sit down, shut up, and get with the program.
I think the NCAA has some new regulations about Indian mascots or Indian nicknames going into effect.
And what of other names which could be offensive, which we never hear complaints about, such as :
Boston Celtics
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
San Diego Padres
Why isn’t PETA on our case about the numerous sports teams named after animals? If it’s offensive to Indians to have nicknames derived from Indians, isn’t it offensive to have nicknames derived from animals????
I’d guess 1/3 of city names in Wisconsin are American Indian derived.
Maybe not 1/3 but there are lots. I live in Ottawa, just south of Ocononowoc and 30 miles west of Milwaukee - all Indian names.
Marquette University changed its team name from “Warriors” to “Eagles” several years ago. I still don’t get that.
I spent my last 8 years in the Army in Attack Helicopter battlaions. Our mission was to kill people and break things. We flew Apaches, Blackhawks and Kiowas. Never heard any complaints from the “intellectual” college kiddies.
“Political correctness says that we’re supposed to be offended by Indian nicknames.”
Political correctness decrees that Indians must be offended by the use of Indian nicknames by non-Indians.
And who chose to call them Indians? Certainly not they, to whom that name was assigned by others.
Indians, being human, are capable of feeling offended, if they so choose, by words.
My animal pets, OTOH, will show emotional responses to the tone of my speech but not to the words, per se, unless I trained them to respond to certain vocalized commands.
Black eyed peas, corn bread, Cole slaw and baked sweet potato are the eats of sanity. An entree is optional.
Not to mention Wisconsin itself. I’m from Michigan and we’ve got a few Indian named cities ourselves.
It's a sort of racism that seems to be OK among the Leftwingtards and "newsies".
I'd like to see the Indians push back against this stuff by inviting some of the worst offenders out to a reservation and losing them in the hills, or maybe just staking them out for a few days.
That's exactly what it is. Naming a team after an Indian tribe is a sign of respect for its strength and bravery. Why can't these clowns see that?
One of my neighbors is from a local tribe. I asked him once “Why is it always Native American this, Native American that, Native American the other thing, but when it comes to gambling, it’s always ‘Indian Gaming (in CA)”. He replied “Beats me - among ourselves, we always say ‘Indian’. I think it’s just a club we can use to beat you guys up with”.
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