Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe Announces Lawsuit Against NCAA Alleging Civil Rights ViolationsCopyright...

Speaking at the tribal headquarters of the Spirit Lake Sioux Nation, attorney Reed Soderstrom announced a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging copyright infringement and civil rights violations. The Sioux tribe supports the University of North Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux” nickname and logo, but the NCAA has deemed them to be “hostile and abusive.”

Soderstrom alleges that the NCAA has violated “the religious and first amendment rights of the Dakota Sioux tribes.” He also alleged a double standard in the application of the NCAA’s policy against the use of Native American names and imagery.

“Though the NCAA has decided ‘Fighting Sioux’ is derogatory, the NCAA supports the University of Illinois’ use of the name ‘Fighting Illini,’ and the use by Florida State University of the name ‘Seminoles’ along with the Seminole mascot – someone dressed in Native American attire who rides into the FSU stadium on a horse and throws a flaming spear before every home football game,” said Soderstrom. “The NCAA claims these are not derogatory depictions because the Illini people and the Seminole people approve of the use of the name and mascot. Inexplicably, the NCAA fails to accept the tribal vote and the sacred religious ceremony as endorsements of the name ‘Fighting Sioux’ by the North Dakota Sioux Nation.”

Earlier this year the North Dakota legislature passed a law ordering the University of North Dakota to keep the “Fighting Sioux” nickname despite NCAA sanctions. The bill was signed into law by Governor Jack Dalrymple, but after a meeting between state officials and NCAA leadership in Indiana Dalrymple and other state leaders feel the law should be repealed in an upcoming special session of the legislature.

As a former North Dakotan and person who can claim Siox heritage, I can give you a little more detail to the story.

The Spirit Lake Sioux, the tribe which is geographically closest to UND, has always supported the fighting Sioux mascot.

The kids as well as many adults on the reservation wear UND sportswear with pride. The only mistake the tribe made was in not launching this lawsuit earlier or giving them a good talking to as one of my other family tribes the Utes did back when this BS first surfaced. That's why the NCAA still takes a "hands off" approach to the Utes.

The other big Sioux Tribe in North Dakota is located on the Standing Rock reservation, almost as far away as you can get from UND and still be in North Dakota. They were never overtly opposed to the use of the Fighting Sioux logo, but having a far more left-wing tribal council, they were convinced that they could extract concessions from UND in return for supporting the "Fighting Sioux" mascot. These concessions were supposed to be in the form of free scholarships, Sioux-centric courses, maybe even a branch campus or something else to make the council feel good. UND refused to give in. Eventually, the council's greed got them voted out of office. It would have been nice if they had gone a step further and joined their Spirit Lake cousins in the lawsuit, but the lure of potential goodies from shakedowns die hard.

At least the battle is now exactly where it needs to be-- between the PC libtards of the NCAA and the real Native Americans they claim to be trying to help.

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