In the comments on
Indians and Tigers and Sharks...Oh My! J. Kills Straight (Lakota Sioux) wrote:
People who have spoken out on the tired and irrelevant mascot issue are primarily non-Indian "do-gooders" trying to make name for themselves, like the countless anthropologists and "Native" historians before them, to sell a book or obtain academic recognition.My response:
The list of Native organizations that oppose mascots is long. Why don't you tell these people that they're non-Indian "do-gooders" and "weekend warriors"? Let us know how that goes.
List of Organizations Endorsing Retirement of "Indian" Sports Team Tokens
Advocates for American Indian Children (California)
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
American Indian Mental Health Association (Minnesota)
American Indian Movement
American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center of San Bernardino County
American Indian Student Services at the Ohio State University
Association on American Indian Affairs
Buncombe County Native American Intertribal Association (North Carolina)
Concerned American Indian Parents (Minnesota)
Council for Indigenous North Americans (University of Southern Maine)
Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance
Fontana Native American Indian Center, Inc.
Governor's Interstate Indian Council
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (Michigan)
Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission
Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council
Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi Indians (Michigan)
Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes (composed of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muskogee [Creek], Cherokee, and Seminole Nations)
Juaneño Band of Mission Indians
Kansas Association for Native American Education
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians (Michigan)
Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs
Mascot Abuse San Francisco Bay Area
Medicine Wheel Intertribal Association (Louisiana)
Menominee Tribe of Indians (Wisconsin)
Minnesota Indian Education Association
Morning Star Institute
National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media
National Congress of American Indians
National Indian Education Association
Native American Caucus of the California Democratic Party
Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio
Native American Journalists Association
Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi (Michigan)
North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs
North Dakota Indian Education Association
Office of Native American Ministry, Diocese of Grand Rapids (Michigan)
Ohio Center for Native American Affairs
Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin
San Bernardino/Riverside Counties Native American Community Council
Society of Indian Psychologists of the Americas
Southern California Indian Center
St. Cloud State University--American Indian Center
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Michigan)
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (North Dakota)
Tennessee Chapter of the National Coalition for the Preservation of Indigenous Cultures
Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs
Tennessee Native Veterans Society
Unified Coalition for American Indian Concerns, Virginia
The United Indian Nations of Oklahoma
Virginia American Indian Cultural Resource Center
Wisconsin Indian Education Association
WIEA "Indian" Mascot and Logo Taskforce (Wisconsin)
Wisconsin State Human Relations Association
Woodland Indian Community Center--Lansing (Michigan)
Youth "Indian" Mascot and Logo Taskforce (Wisconsin)Comment: The National Congress of the American Indian represents most tribes and tribal leaders. The National Indian Education Association represents most Native schools and educators. The Native American Journalists Association represents most Native journalists and media outlets.
Those are three huge constituencies right there. How much more evidence do you need of the Native opposition to mascots? Exactly whose endorsement are you waiting for? The Native Spelling Bee Society? The Native Web Designers Association? The Native Astronaut Corps?
Let's not forget the lawsuit presently underway against the
Washington Redskins. Suzan Shown Harjo
fills us in:
The team’s name is despised in most of Indian country. All the major Native American organizations have taken positions against it, some of them in court, where there are two lawsuits against the Washington football franchise (about which, more later).
I am the Harjo of Harjo et al v. Pro Football, Inc., which we filed on Sept. 10, 1992, with the goal of forcing the team owners to retire the disparaging name. My co-plaintiffs are Attorney/Author Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux; 1933-2005); Artist Mateo Romero (Cochiti Pueblo); Educators Manley A. Begay, Jr. (Navajo), Norbert S. Hill, Jr. (Oneida), William A. Means, Jr. (Oglala Lakota); and Former Governor, Pueblo Ysleta del Sur, Raymond D. Apodaca.I'd say anytime you claim to know more about Indian country than Vine Deloria Jr., you're in trouble. Yeah, he wasn't the executive director of the NCAI and author of 27 books on Native issues. He was just a liberal "do-gooder" and "weekend warrior."
Not.
Below: Intellectual warrior Vine Deloria Jr. and one of the faux warriors he denounced.
2 comments:
I think that list is incomplete, just because it seems to me a little too heavy on the Upper Midwest organizations.
This would imply to me that there are many many more organizations that would be on it also.
No doubt you're right, DMarks. The list was compiled in 2000. The compiler appears to have updated it only sporadically.
I'm not sure where the compiler lives. The list could have a Midwest focus because he lives (or lived) there. It's also possible that tribes in the Midwest are more assertive about this issue for some reason.
In any case, it would be difficult to track down all the organizations that have passed anti-mascot resolutions. And in 2000, Google wasn't as comprehensive as it is now. I don't know how incomplete the list is, but I'm sure it's incomplete.
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