"The chief was loved by the students."?
I saw a show on PBS CALLED "In Whose Honor"?
It detailed the beginnings of the anti-chief movement started by the Native American woman who was an art teacher there..and was upset by the dance the mascot did during a basketball half-time show.
When told by alumni that the students and grads loved their chief...the woman said ..."and I bet that the southerners loved their darkies too".
This has always been my point about the mascot/degrading image thing. I would have no problem with the comical Indian caricatures if I could use the dreaded and forbidden "N Word" in daily conversation.
Take the name R*dskin, that word brings us no honor and yet is a product logo.
Yep, calling your opponents racist is a great way to go.. Frankly, the anti-Chief people were (and probably still are) a bunch of militant upper middle class (mostly white) snots who like making the lives of other students miserable. I got called a "racist" at the pamphletes they were handing out... They also liked crashing football games and having sit-ins in administration buildings.