Posted on 03/10/2002 7:27:34 AM PST by real saxophonist
Team picks white man mascot to make point
Story By Julio Ochoa
An intramural basketball team at the University of Northern Colorado called "The Fighting Whities" is turning the tables on the Eaton mascot issue.
Led by Solomon Little Owl, director of Native American Student Services at UNC, the team chose a white man as its mascot to raise awareness and understanding of stereotypes that some cultures endure.
"The message is, let's do something that will let people see the other side of what it's like to be a mascot," Little Owl said. "I am really offended by this mascot issue, and I hope the people that support the Eaton mascot will get offended by this."
The players, made up of a mixture of American Indian, Hispanic and caucasian students, wear white jerseys with the picture of a white man in a suit on the front and the slogan "Every thang's gonna be all white!" printed beneath.
"It's not meant to be vicious, it is meant to be humorous," said Ray White, a Mohawk American Indian on the team. "It puts people in our shoes, and then we can say, 'Now you know how it is, and now you can make a judgement.' "
Judging right or wrong is hard when you don't understand how it feels to be stereotyped, White said.
"We are looking for understanding," he said. "We want change, but you can't force change."
American Indians could go through the general assembly or town meetings to try to change mascots, but the same message might not get through, White said.
"We all live in the same community and want the same things, so it is good to be standing in each other's shoes for a while," he said.
Charles Cuny, an Ogalala Lakota and member of the team, said he went to an American Indian Catholic high school with a mascot called the Red Cloud Crusaders, after a famous chief of the Lakota Indians.
The problem with Eaton's mascot is a matter of respect, he said.
"There are certain words that are accepted and certain words that are unacceptable," Cuny said. "Really a mascot is something that you look up to, and on one hand that is nice, but maybe we could go about it another way."
Having a white mascot is a way to make people more aware of American Indian issues, he said.
"We live in a politically correct society, and sometimes indians get overlooked," he said. "There are so few indians who have clout that there are a lot of things that go unsettled."
But I can't dance...
I've never bought all this crap that all the Native Americans (by the way, all my "Native American" friends in college referred to themselves as Indians) were all so outraged by all this. The college I attended in the early 80's had quite a large Indian representation in the student body due not only to its proximity to several reservations, but also due to the fact that if you could show that you were at least one-quarter "Native American" you could attend without having to pay tuition.
My "Native American" friends were all too busy studying and trying to earn a degree to worry about the PC crap. They thought it was mostly started by some dumb white kids with too much of mommy and daddy's money and too much time on their hands.
Perhaps the climate has changed there over the years. I haven't set foot on campus in quite some time, but I believe this whole issue over a team mascot being offensive has been blown way out of proportion.
For those who don't get the humor, it was a play off the name Aphrodite!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Unfortunately, the college I attended caved in to the PC crowd a few years after I graduated. They sent a survey to the student body and to alumni asking whether or not the mascot should be changed to something "less offensive" or some such drivel. As I recall, the results of the survey were over 80% in favor of leaving it alone, but they went ahead and changed it anyway. I told the alumni committee at the time that it should be left alone, but if they just couldn't see their way to that, then maybe they should choose an amoeba or an eel as the school mascot...something without a spine! Never heard anything back from them.
I have not and will not donate anything to the alumni association, and I am glad that both my wife and I graduated under the old mascot.
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