Chief to say good bye...or is he?
>> Friday
It looks like this is it. Today, barring a judge's ruling, the University of Illinois will announce that the symbol of the university, Chief Illiniwek, will have his final dance at halftime of the Illinois-Michigan men's basketball game next week.
Opponents of the Chief have long claimed cultural misappropriation. Which of course never happens in college sports.
This isn't even a case of a blatantly offensive image. The costume was donated by a Native American tribe in the 1980s (that sounds like an endorsement to me), the Chief figure is represented with respect and for the most part (save a few jumps), sticks to authentic Native American dances, and the Peoria Indians' Chief (descendants of the original Illiniwek confederacy) has gone on record as saying that he was in support of the Chief as recently as 10 years ago. Now he's against it. What's changed since the mid-1990s?
I am totally lost on how there is this apparently pressing need to have more diversity in hiring minority coaches, athletic directors, and university presidents, in attracting a more diverse student body, yet when it comes time for visible symbols of the University on the athletic field, the time for diversity is over. Think about it. Can you think of any major university that uses a non-white logo or mascot/symbol/character/image? I know I can't think of any single one, can you recall any non-white college sports teams' mascots that would immediately come to mind?
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4 comments:
In a perfect society, mascots would have no skin tone at all. They would be translucent and devoid of any facial features (i.e. big Italian schnoz), which could be construed as depicting a certain race.
Correction: Mike wrote that “The costume was donated by a Native American tribe in the 1980s (that sounds like an endorsement to me)”. Fact: Being “donated” would imply support but the regalia was not “donated”. It was purchased which does not imply “endorsement”. Moreover, it was not sold “by a Native American tribe” but by an individual. A sale by an American Indian individual is not equivalent since the individual had no authority to speak “on behalf of” the tribe.
Correction: Mike wrote that “the Chief figure is represented with respect and for the most part (save a few jumps), sticks to authentic Native American dances.” Fact: Only someone quite ignorant of American Indian cultures and dances would make such a statement. It is egregious to see such a false assertion. It disrespects American Indians and their cultures and the dance is totally invalid. But even if it were valid, it would be an inappropriate misappropriation of American Indian culture.
Correction: To support his claim that the mascot promotes “diversity”, Mike wrote that “Think about it. Can you think of any major university that uses a non-white logo or mascot/symbol/character/image?” Fact: In addition to opposition from American Indians, the use of race-based ‘Indian’ nicknames and logos are opposed by major organizations from other racial minority groups as well such as the NAACP and LULAC. Only in the minds of European Americans is this viewed as a “welcoming” environment to have a race-based athletic logo, mascot/symbol. Minorities attend “in spite of” rather than “because of” this use of a racial minority by a predominately-white campus.
Dag Mike, you got served.
The only possible solution.
Rename all schools with nicknames that involve any kind of people the "Wildcats."
Coming up next on YCS (we'll have our own cable network by then), it's the USC Wildcats against the Notre Dame Wildcats! Later, the Illinois Wildcats take on the Michigan State Wildcats!
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