A few years ago, the NCAA demanded that schools with Indian mascots (American Indian)change their mascots, with the exception being Florida State. Florida State has what they call a "special" relationship with the "Seminole Nation." The penalty for all those who did not succumb to the power of the NCAA was going to be no post-season games (tournaments, bowl games, etc.). In other words, WE, the almighty NCAA don't care what you, your student body, or your local population think. WE know better than you (sounds like the overly assertive Federal Gov't in some cases). I don't know if this penalty was ever enforced.
This was a movement started in 1969 with Dartmouth (originally founded to educate Indians ironically) and lots of colleges and high schools followed their lead.
The 27 Indians who claim to be offended by the mascots should probably look around the reservation once or twice. Indians wear the stuff! In fact, it gives them a sense of identity. They are proud of their heritage, and should be.
Today's mascots aren't the comic-like, stereo-typed mascots of the 1920s and 30s (see the Cleveland Indians or Stanford Redmen historical mascots). They are proud, noble characters and most schools (and most Indians) are rightly proud to have them. In fact, I'd argue the Cleveland Indian, the Washington Redskin, and the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux are among the coolest mascots around.
The NCAA ruling is beyond stupid since they simply don't have the power to dictate what a university decides its mascot should be. Let the schools decide and deal with the public on their own.
Showing posts with label Indian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Free the Indians!
The Indian Reservation system is a disgrace and should be phased out as soon as possible. While there are a handful of advantages to growing up on the reservation (some offer to send their kids to college), most Indian reservations are dead-end quagmires of hopelessness. Alcoholism and now methamphetamine drugs plague these places. Many have become distribution sources for meth. Reservations are exempt from state law, so only the Feds can do anything there. The Feds do very little, so the problems fester. The Indians continue to suffer. Further, casino money is fueling the alcohol, crime, and meth problems. The Reservation system is a failure.
The horrible thing to me is if an Indian youth aspires for more, he's put down by the other Indians as becoming "Washisha" (white). He just wants to succeed.
The Reservation lands should be given to those tribes to do with as they please. If they want to make a commune, ok. If they want to sell it, ok. BUT, that land will become part of whatever state it’s in and subject to its laws and taxes. Individual states can handle the details. The turnover date should be five years out from passage of the law with all state laws and regulations followed by the ten-year mark (i.e. If the state doesn’t allow gambling, a casino will close.).
American Indians have been held in stasis for the last 100+ years by the reservation system. It is time they catch up to the society around them. Indians can and should remain as Indian as they want to be. My ancestors (Pennsylvania Dutch) came here well over 200 years ago and have retained their customs, language, and religion. There is no reason the Indians can't do the same. They should.
Related subject: Casinos, while bringing jobs and cash, destroy a society from within. They are great for the owners and horrible for the patrons. Casinos are NOT an honorable way to support yourself.
Please share your thoughts.
--UPDATE, September 2009--
I just read an article on CNN.com detailing the plight of Indians on a Lakota Reservation (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/13/king.sotu.economy/index.html).
The article says unemployment is 80%. I have a hint, a clue, a proposal or a suggestion... GET OFF THE RESERVATION!!!!! It's killing you.
--UPDATE, March 2010--
Here's an article talking about the modern-day mismanagemnt of Indian Affairs by the Feds. The Federal Gov't needs to give up and let the Tribes run their own show as discussed above. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/08/indian.land/index.html
-- UPDATE, July 2010 --
Oh this is great. The Iroquois "National" team is trying to travel to the Lacrosse World Championships in jolly ol' England. They insist on traveling using their Iroquois passports and not American passports, insisting on the sovereignty of their nation. Wrong answer! The ignorance gets better. In this story, "Iroquois passport dispute raises sovereignty issue" (http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100717/D9H10RB81.html), one of them says, "You know that as a young person that you are sovereign, that you are not part of the United States," he said. "We were the first people here." That is about the most ignorant thing I've heard in a long time. He is a US citizen, like it or not. If he doesn't, he can leave.
Further, the Indians who the European settlers found in North America were at least the third wave of immigrants. They killed, maimed, and assimilated their way into the lands the Europeans found them on. If he knew anything about "his people", he ought to know that. Again, it's time to end the charade. Disband the reservations, give the land to the Indians, make the former reservations part of the states they are in, and move on.
The horrible thing to me is if an Indian youth aspires for more, he's put down by the other Indians as becoming "Washisha" (white). He just wants to succeed.
The Reservation lands should be given to those tribes to do with as they please. If they want to make a commune, ok. If they want to sell it, ok. BUT, that land will become part of whatever state it’s in and subject to its laws and taxes. Individual states can handle the details. The turnover date should be five years out from passage of the law with all state laws and regulations followed by the ten-year mark (i.e. If the state doesn’t allow gambling, a casino will close.).
American Indians have been held in stasis for the last 100+ years by the reservation system. It is time they catch up to the society around them. Indians can and should remain as Indian as they want to be. My ancestors (Pennsylvania Dutch) came here well over 200 years ago and have retained their customs, language, and religion. There is no reason the Indians can't do the same. They should.
Related subject: Casinos, while bringing jobs and cash, destroy a society from within. They are great for the owners and horrible for the patrons. Casinos are NOT an honorable way to support yourself.
Please share your thoughts.
--UPDATE, September 2009--
I just read an article on CNN.com detailing the plight of Indians on a Lakota Reservation (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/13/king.sotu.economy/index.html).
The article says unemployment is 80%. I have a hint, a clue, a proposal or a suggestion... GET OFF THE RESERVATION!!!!! It's killing you.
--UPDATE, March 2010--
Here's an article talking about the modern-day mismanagemnt of Indian Affairs by the Feds. The Federal Gov't needs to give up and let the Tribes run their own show as discussed above. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/08/indian.land/index.html
-- UPDATE, July 2010 --
Oh this is great. The Iroquois "National" team is trying to travel to the Lacrosse World Championships in jolly ol' England. They insist on traveling using their Iroquois passports and not American passports, insisting on the sovereignty of their nation. Wrong answer! The ignorance gets better. In this story, "Iroquois passport dispute raises sovereignty issue" (http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100717/D9H10RB81.html), one of them says, "You know that as a young person that you are sovereign, that you are not part of the United States," he said. "We were the first people here." That is about the most ignorant thing I've heard in a long time. He is a US citizen, like it or not. If he doesn't, he can leave.
Further, the Indians who the European settlers found in North America were at least the third wave of immigrants. They killed, maimed, and assimilated their way into the lands the Europeans found them on. If he knew anything about "his people", he ought to know that. Again, it's time to end the charade. Disband the reservations, give the land to the Indians, make the former reservations part of the states they are in, and move on.
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