December 05, 2007

Shirt links logo, casinos

Sioux logo T-shirt stirs controversyA T-shirt produced by a North Dakota business at tempting to poke fun at the UND Fighting Sioux logo controversy has inflamed tensions on an already sensitive issue.

The shirt, which James town, N.D.-based Orriginals Inc. began printing about a week ago, includes the words: "No Sioux Logo No Sioux Casinos!" It also features UND's Indian head logo with the words: "Hostile and Abusive," and plots out the location of three casinos in North Dakota and South Dakota, which it describes as "Destructive and Addictive."

"This is not a sentiment we are promoting, fostering or supporting in any way, shape or form," said UND spokesman Peter Johnson. "We just don't think there is any place for this type of thing in the dialogue we would like to have. It is not what the University of North Dakota is about."
Comment:  The problem here is that there's no real link between the nickname and the casino. Both should be judged on their own merits.

By creating a link where there is none, the shirt's purveyors are telling the tribes, "We don't care whether the nickname is right or wrong. We're going to pressure you to approve it with an attack on your casinos." Again, the conclusion is obvious: mascot lovers have zero respect for Indians and their beliefs.

Below:  The t-shirt sans the "Fighting Sioux" logo.

1 comment:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
What is missed here is that there is no connection between the two and therefore the two realistically CANNOT be interrelated. Not so much apples and oranges, but more of the case about Natives and conquerors. The conquerors of Native Americans see conquest as compassion and history therefore as compassionate. The statement becomes, 'We prefer to remember your destruction as necessary, and that we did not complete such destruction as compassion.' So, why pick on us now, AS NONE OF US LIVING NOW HAD ANYTHING TO WITH THAT?
writerfella watched 99% of his state of Oklahoma celebrate their history of carving their lives and living and existences out of Indian Territory lands and people, and rejoice that it somehow should be a matter of pride. Seemingly, the dominant culture in the United States eventually will celebrate its loss of the Viet Nam War and the ineluctable loss of Gulf War II as positive matters. Win or lose, my country right or wrong, where have all ths soldiers gone?
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'