Chief Illiniwek Killed by Native Americans
I lived the first 16 years of my life in Illinois, my mother study math at the University of Illinois, I have been there several times for different events and grew up being a fan of their football and basketball team. As I sat in a restaurant tonight eating dinner I was reading the news on my phone and the top sports headline was that this was Chief Illiniwek's last performance. As I read the article it explained that Native Americans were offended by its racist representation and that it had to be eliminated. Last Friday they got their way and tonight the Illini- Michigan game is the chiefs last performance. I have seen this performance many, many, times and I find it very inspirational, the whole college basketball forum is very energizing, the fans are young, very involved in the game, and they are literally on top of the floor and the players, it is chaos theory, controlled, and on a very large scale, if you are into college basketball you know what I mean (see below as well). So the performance only intensifies those feelings of inspiration for the team when I view it. So I gave my Mom a call and we talked it over and both had the same questions and ended up scratching our heads, how exactly was this racist? Well I will quote the "Anti-Chief" website.
UIUC's official mascot and symbol, "Chief Illiniwek" is a racist representation of Native people created by non-Natives for the halftime entertainment and profit of non-Native people. It undermines Native peoples' right to self-determination by appropriating sacred aspects of Native political and religious culture. The "Chief's" performance is just as offensive to Native Americans as the Little Black Sambo and Amos & Andy stereotypes are to African American people. By mocking Native culture, the UI sets a dangerous precedent for racist representation of all other social and ethnic groups targeted for oppression.
Source.
I don't share their point of view and I am also part Native American. This reminds me of the man who sued and wanted the Pledge of Allegiance removed from schools because it had the words "under God" in it. After the ninth curcuit court of appeals ruled in his favor it went to the Supreme Court where he lost, fortunately, where would that ruling have ended? We would have had to reprint all money, all the government building with the word God on them would have to be torn down...But back to the original story, Chief Illiniwek has been performing at the basketball and football games for 80 years now, and the "Anti-Chief" group doesn't just want them to remove the mascot, they want the name of teams changed, the slogans, and all references. Because it also "undermines their right to self-determination by approaching sacred aspects of Native political and religious culture", not quite sure how that fits in either as most people couldn't even tell you what an Illini is. The dance is not authentic, and the song that goes along with it was scored by the U of I's band director back when the tradition started.
Don't we have something better to do with our energy and time? If this mascot has caused so much harm why not sue in court and show actual damages? Maybe that would be to hard since it only "approaches."
Well it's been real Chief and God bless the USA. I can say chief, cause I am part Native American...
See the Chief's performance here.
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