"They took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan"
The Wisconsin Indian Education Association "Indian" Mascot & Logo Taskforce (IMLT) site was extremely enlightening, and includes common questions raised concerning this issue, like "Why is the term "Indian" offensive?", "We are paying tribute to Indians", "Aren't you proud of your warriors?", and "This logo issue is just about political correctness", as well as an interactive map of Wisconsin showing the schools who are in violation of this "volunteer" law.
IMLT's opening position statement is: It is imperative that schools teach respect for America’s indigenous cultures by removing stereotypes in the form of "Indian" logos, mascots and nicknames. If we are to have any meaningful dialogue about eliminating racism in our society, we must first stop teaching this form of overt racism in our schools. One other point to ponder - the typical mascot or logo is of an indian in a headdress, which is associated (from a Native Americans' perspective) with religious ceremonies - not sporting events as they're used in schools.
"They took the whole Indian nation
Locked us on this reservation
And though I wear a shirt and tie
I'm still part Redman deep inside"
Here's a list of all the athletic conferences in the state of Wisconsin. As of October 7, 2009, there are 36 schools that have retained their "offensive" logo or mascot. Specifically, these are the names that are deemed offensive: Apaches, Braves, Blackhawks (non-bird), Chieftains, Hatchets (with indian references), Indians, Raiders (non-medieval), Redmen, Red Raiders, Warriors (indian), Warhawks (non-bird).
According to IMLT - and this is interesting - the reason the term "Indian" isn't acceptable is because "that name was given to indigenous people on this continent by an explorer who was looking for India, a man who was lost and who subsequently exploited the indigenous people. "Indian" is a designation we have learned to tolerate, it is not the name we call ourselves. We are known by the names of our Nations - Oneida, Ho-Chunk, Stockbridge-Munsee, Menominee, Chippewa, Potawatomi, etc. There are many different nations with different languages and different cultural practices among the Native American peoples - as in Europe there are French, Swiss, Italian, German, Polish, English, Irish, Yugoslavs, Swedes, Portuguese, Latvians, etc."
"And some day when they've learned
Cherokee Indian will return
Will return will return
Will return will return"
I'm not Native American; I really don't have a say in the manner. But my question is why other nationalities - specifically, Scandinavian - aren't playing the racial stereotype card when it comes to the use of "Viking", "Raider", "Norseman" and so forth? If you add this element to the 36 schools IMLT mentioned, you have over 70 schools with racial-based, stereotypical names (and there were 19 conferences I never checked as their school mascots weren't listed on the website). Why aren't the Scandi's concerned with centuries of rape, pillaging and plundering when it comes to the use of their mascots and logos? Should anyone else be (I don't care, by the way)? Or medieval references to "Knights" or "Crusaders"?
I'm also wondering why Wisconsin's Assembly is spending time on this bill (which was scheduled for another meeting, blah, blah, blah) when it most certainly has an agenda filled with more pressing state issues (jobs, crime, education, health)?
ASSEMBLY BILL 35: "An Act to create 118.134 of the statutes; relating to: the use of race-based names, nicknames, logos, and mascots by school boards, requiring the exercise of rule-making authority, and providing a penalty."
2009 02-12-09. A. Introduced by Representatives Soletski, Pope-Roberts, Mursau, Young, Benedict, Berceau, Black, Colon, Cullen, Fields, Grigsby, Hilgenberg, Kessler, Mason, Milroy, Molepske Jr., Nelson, Parisi, Pasch, Pocan, Radcliffe, Schneider, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki, Smith, Steinbrink, Turner, Van Akkeren and A. Williams; cosponsored by Senators Coggs, Hansen, Carpenter, Taylor, Risser and Holperin.
02-12-09.
A. Read first time and referred to committee on Education
02-13-09.
A. Fiscal estimate received.
03-17-09.
A. Public hearing held.
03-20-09.
A. Assembly amendment offered by Representative Soletski
03-24-09.
A. Executive action taken.
06-18-09.
A. Assembly substitute amendment offered by Representative Soletski
2010 02-17-10. A
. Report Assembly Amendment 1 adoption recommended by committee on Education, Ayes 13, Noes 0
02-17-10. A. Report passage as amended recommended by committee on Education, Ayes 8, Noes 5
02-17-10. A. Referred to committee on Rules
02-17-10. A. Placed on calendar
2-23-2010 by committee on Rules.
Oh Scotty. Making the blog via your braggadocio. I'm kidding. When I was in Santa Barbara last week my cousin Scott was regaling us with memories of his receiving days on the Wisconsin State Championship football team in New Berlin (he's like 26). That (yawn) - along with the following story - got me thinking about when I was in my prime physically, and those moments when I basked in my own "Glory Days". Jamaica's Asafa Powell (9.74) and Usain Bolt (9.72).
EUGENE, Ore., Saturday, June 28 - Double sprint world champion Tyson Gay set an American record of 9.77 seconds, making him the third-fastest man in history behind
I dated our statistician - Betty Vitale - who coined the nicknamed, "The Greek" (later shortened by Coach Cameron Bruce to "Greek"). She said I looked like a Greek god when I ran. No shit - her words. I took a few things to storage a couple weeks ago and happened upon a small box containing my track medals. Not a lot - we didn't have many opportunities to collect medals in those days - but a few. Let's take a peak into Ye Old Memory Treasure Chest, shall we?
1) 1st place Conference Relays, 300 yard high hurdle shuttle; these were held at Waterford, 2) 1st place Conference Relays, 600 yard low hurdle shuttle - both 1982, senior year; 3) 1981 Case Invitational, 2nd place, 1600 yard relay. Shuttles are when you have three guys on each team. The first guy takes off running and at the end of his leg, the second man is waiting and he takes off, etc. My junior year (1981) we dominated shuttles as our best guy, Dan Hewitt, a senior, was one of the top hurdlers in the state of Wisconsin. Fast.
1) 1981 Conference Relays, 1st place, high hurdle shuttle relay; 2) low hurdles - may be 2nd but there's no writing on the back; 3) 2nd low hurdles - the writing is faded on the back but I can make out 1981 Track and Field Championships. I know I have the newspaper articles to check but they're in storage - way in the back.
(*That second medal has to be 1982 Conference Championships...and a very cheap looking medal compared to what they gave in the past - and compared to what I went through to get it. Great story. I was favored to win the 330 yard low hurdles my senior year but a pile-up occurred over the 2nd hurdle. 4 or 5 guys went. I got up and hobbled over the finish line, pretty upset (along with a few other guys). My coach comes flying across the field yelling, "FOUL! FOUL!". Imagine hurdlers colliding with each other...and the hurdles themselves - not pretty. My leg was bleeding so we quickly bandaged it up and I ran back over to re-start the race. I placed 2nd - don't remember how close it was. I blame the injury. My arch-rival from Burlington (Dallas QB Tony Romo's high school) beat me. However, I finished with the best time over-all in the conference and throughout all of Racine County (see Journal-Times medal below).
NOTE: I don't care what anyone says, of all the sprint events, the 330 yard lows are the toughest event in track. Anyone I've talked to agrees. No argument. It's a fricken sprint with barriers. Try it sometime.
The mother lode. MVP my senior year, 1982. Also Co-Captain with Ned Zoelle - who I haven't seen pretty much since then and can't figure out why. "NED! If you read this, email me!".
Racine Journal-Times 1982 - Named All Conference and All County with the best time in the 330 yard low hurdles for 1982 = 39.6. That's right...I beat fast black guys from Racine Park, Racine Case and Racine Horlick. Suckaaaaas!
Another fun story. In the summer of 1997 I trained (somewhat) for the All Iowa Games, an Olympic-style competition for amateur athletes. All the events are based on age - I was 33 at the time. Remember, a lot had changed since 1982. Low hurdle heights were raised and the 330 yard LH were now the 400 meter LH. It's a tad longer.
So we're all sitting around the starting line shooting the shit and the starter official approaches us and right off the bat says, "I think we can all agree that you guys want the hurdle height dropped down to where it was at in 1982...right?". No argument from us. But we still had to run extra 100 meters or so to run, including 2 or 3 extra hurdles.
Long story short, you know that WALL people talk about in track? I hit it with two hurdles left. That was tough. Had it all on tape too but like a jackass I mistakenly erased it. I placed 2nd in my age class (I think there were 9 of us). The guy who beat me was in AS GOOD of shape as he must've been in high school. Like 3% body fat on the guy - a white dude. Listen, the time he beat me with that day in Dubuque, Iowa was equivalent to my best time of 39.6 - in 1982 - at 330 yards.
Can't go back but we love to live'm again, don't we? That's OK. It's good to remember every once in a while.
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