Posted on 03/13/2002 9:53:47 AM PST by John Jorsett
The Fightin' Whities, an intramural basketball team of American Indians at the University of Northern Colorado, has been flooded with requests for T-shirts since news broke of the team's satirical mascot protest.
On Tuesday, the student basketball team set up an e-mail account to start taking orders - even though players have not yet figured out exactly how to mass-produce their shirts.
Would-be buyers may send T-shirt requests to fightingwhites@hotmail.com. The team will send back acknowledgments and more information. The system is meant to gauge demand while the team irons out copyright issues and checks university guidelines, said Jeff Van Iwarden, 21, one of the team's few Anglo players.
The Fightin' Whities expect to charge about $20 for their shirts and will donate all profits to a Native American cause that has yet to be determined, Van Iwarden said.
In the course of just two days, as news of the team has exploded nationwide, the players have gained countless fans across the country.
Many are clamoring for T-shirts bearing the team mascot - a 1950s-style caricature of a middle-aged white guy - and the phrase "Every thang's gonna be all white!"
The intramural basketball team's official name is "Native Pride." But the team calls itself the "Fightin' Whites" - and is widely known by the more in-your-face "Fightin' Whities" - as a jab at nearby Eaton High School.
School officials in Eaton, a farm town north of Greeley, have refused to discuss the school's mascot - the Fightin' Reds - despite complaints from area Native Americans who see it as a degrading stereotype.
Eaton High School's mascot is a caricature of an Indian with a misshapen nose, wearing a loincloth and eagle feather.
The UNC team was frustrated that pleas for tolerance were misunderstood or discounted, they said. So the players decided to use some provocative humor to stir up the debate.
"Walk in someone else's shoes, and then you can make a judgment," said Ryan White, 22, a team player and member of the Mohawk Nation.
Slid for miles downhill after that.
Using a 50's style white guy in understandable, but why print the motto using ebonics...?
ROTFLMAO! Good One!
To: lepton
I happen to be very familiar with that school :) There's a interesting part of this that isn't being discussed, however. Team captain Solomon Little Owl, the guy who started this mess, isn't just "director of Native American Student Services at UNC". At 29, he's either still a student at UNC (he was listed as a student as far back as 1998), or only recently took the position of director on campus, which is a paid position through the university. Local residents in Greeley (UNC) and Eaton (the high school) all happen to like the Eaton Reds' mascot, who's apparently been a part of the school for almost a century. The only protest or criticism levelled against the school began early this year, by Native Americans doctorate students and others at the neighboring Greeley's UNC campus (the two campuses are a few miles apart). From what I've gathered, there's maybe a half-dozen people, none of whom are residents of Eaton, who are protesting.
"Walk in someone else's shoes, and then you can make a judgment"
I say "If a man forces you to walk a mile in his moccasins, walk two miles. That way, not only are you an extra mile away from him when you finish, but now you have his shoes as well."
23 posted on 3/13/02 3:15 PM Pacific by Alex Murphy
The Fightin' Reds should change their mascot to a Red Hammer and Sickle and maybe a clenched fist....just to show The Fightin' Whities they can relate to their problems.
The three NEW YORK FIRE MEN who raised the flag at the WTC should copyright their own t-shirt with the photo of the flag being rasied and underneath have a caption like "The Fightin' Whities."
Seriously though, The Fightin' Whities team should cut out the pc whining and crack open those books. If The Fightin' Whities want to get ahead in life; they need to get a good education first.
The University of Northern Colorado Native American Beer and Party Fund.
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