School defuses flap over 'Savages'

Washington Times ^ | 9/08/01 | Valerie Richardson

[kattracks]

RIGGINS, Idaho -- As names for sports teams go, it's hard to imagine one that might be more offensive to American Indians than the Savages.

That's the team name at Salmon River High School, just down the river from the Nez Perce Reservation. Yet there are no sit-ins, no demonstrations and no protests from tribal leaders.

[jimtorr]

Well, I was belly-aching about why it's acceptable to call "white" people savages but not Amerinds, but then I got to thinking. Europeans have historically been just as warlike as any other group of people, so why shouldn't at least one school acknowledge the "glory" of European savages? Could this be the first step in a rehabilitation of my own european-american savage heritage?

[Valin]

Good post. Where do you think we got the word vandal?

[jimtorr]

Yes, indeed, the German tribe that the Romans called the Vandals. I've often wondered how much they contributed to the north african Tuareg peoples. The Vandal invasion of North Africa was as responsible as any other single event for the downfall of the Western Roman Empire. Rome received much of it's grain supply from Libya and Mauretania.