Blackhawks logo in SNL's 40th anniversary

Indians appeared once in Saturday Night Live's 40th-anniversary show. Unfortunately, the appearance wasn't good:

SNL 40th Anniversary: Mike Myers and Native Imagery

By Adrienne KeeneI was excited to see a Wayne’s World sketch, because I am a nerd and use #partytimeexcellent as a personal catchphrase…and then noticed something about Wayne/Mike Myers:

Obviously, he’s wearing a Chicago Blackhawks Jersey. But notice the blanket he’s sitting on as well…totally “Native inspired.”

It got me thinking (duh). This screenshot pretty much encapsulates what most folks watching SNL think about Native peoples: mascots and artifacts. Both disembodied symbols that have minimal relation to contemporary Native communities or people. Both representing outsiders profiting from and exploiting our images and our cultures for their own economic gain. Both harkening to a very specific period of time in our cultures–back to the 19th century, when the “real Indians” were around.These things matter. More than 23 million viewers saw this sketch. 23 MILLION. When we don’t have any counter-representations to show us as we actually are, the weight of these small moments adds up. I know most viewers wouldn’t have even thought twice about the problematic nature of this–but that’s why you have me, right? To scream from the rooftops that WE ARE MORE THAN ARTIFACTS AND MASCOTS? These things aren’t “honoring.” They’re demeaning and exploitative. Final answer.Comment:  Keene adds that the team owner's wife designed the Blackhawks logo while her husband named the team after his Blackhawk Division in World War I. Some people have used that origin as an excuse to keep the name: "The team isn't stereotypical because it's not named after an Indian."

Not directly, anyway. But that only undercuts the claim that the team, name, and logo "honor" Indians. As Keene notes, they're honoring a fictitious version of an Indian--what the owners think Sauk Chief Black Hawk looked like in their dreams. There's no legitimate Native basis for the name or logo.

Keene also tweeted this image:

Writing a quick post about SNL...remember "Native American Comic Billy Smith"? smh: http://www.hulu.com/watch/114928For more on the Blackhawks, see Blackhawks Fans Defend Stereotypical Logo and Severed Head Suggests Dead Indian. For more on Saturday Night Live and Billy Smith, see Native Doll in Saturday Night Live and Cobell Skit in Saturday Night Live.

Geronimo and Black Hawk comics

Some Native-themed comics from around 1950.



The Savage Raids of Chief Geronimo v1 #4



Black Hawk--Tomahawk Indian War [nn]

Blackhawk Indian Tomahawk War (1951-oneshot)Avon Periodicals, 1951. Chief Black Hawk in Ambush: Black Hawk wants peace and breaks with the British, but they send two guys after him to kill him. He escapes. The Battle with the Osage Indians: This story tells how Black Hawk got his name. This kind of a story also shows how the Native American tribes were pretty much constantly at war with each other. If they had ever really totally united they might have been able to stop the white man from taking over the land. The Black Hawk Indian Tomahawk War: More on Indian wars, and how various tribes made pacts with the British, which were not honored, and the Americans, which were not honored. General Fremont: Another story showing the dishonesty of the white men as they plan to survey Indian territory to build a new railroad. Kit West and the Prince of Pioneers: Again, the typical woman, large-breasted and short-skirted, this time in buskins. A guy claims to be a prince of a foreign country but seems to bring trouble to the wagon train. He's exiled from the train and then the truth gets revealed.Comment:  Geronimo wasn't a chief and Black Hawk didn't wear a Plains headdress. Neither leader looked much like these drawings.

Obviously the main selling point is the brutal savagery of the Indians. Complete with a damsel in distress in Geronimo's case.

But this was the beginning of the revisionist era, so the contents may not reflect the covers. Around then, stories begin to admit that the white men--a few bad apples, anyway--had cheated the Indians. And the Indians--however savage and barbaric they were--were victims as much as victimizers.

Blackhawks fans defend stereotypical logo

Some anonymous commenters took me to task for my Alternate Logo for Blackhawks posting in 2010. It was about this proposed mascot revamp for the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team:



Here's why I was right and they were wrong:Change the Blackhawk logo? Go ahead and try, you whiny little bitches. At your own peril, of course.It was merely a suggestion, dumbass. And you and your fellow fans are the only whiny babies here. I can still hear you crying over you mascot.Get your references correct. The Chicago Blackhawks are named after Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk tribe of Northern Illinois. He is the only individual in USA history to have a war named after him. The Chicago franchise of the NHL used his name (modified to one word) as a point of honor towards Black Hawk, and to all of the indigenous peoples of North America. So, remember the Blackhawks are not birds, but rather proud braves.Thanks for the info, Anonymous #3. Now tell me something I don't know. In fact, tell me something I didn't know before you were born, unless I miss my guess.

Wow...the stupidity of people who think mascot foes don't know every detail about the mascot they're criticizing. Breathtaking.

Here's a clue, bright boy: The team not only converted Black Hawk's name to one word, it pluralized it. There are no Indian "braves" or other Native groups named "Blackhawks." So your claim that the actual name refers to "proud braves" is false.

The plural "Blackhawks" is about as close to the singular Chief Black Hawk as a black bird would be. And Chief Black Hawk was named for--wait for it--a black hawk. Therefore, a black hawk is equally appropriate as the team's self-image.

Heck, it's more appropriate, since the orange-skinned cartoon logo looks nothing like Chief Black Hawk. The black hawk looks like the chief's namesake, while the cartoon logo looks like a circus clown. It's more of an insult than an honor to the real person.

















If you want to honor the Sauk Indians, rename the team the Sauks. Or the Black Sauks, if you want to be clever. Again, the "Blackhawks" name honors the Sauk the same way a "Crazy Horses" name would honor the Lakota. Which is to say, not at all.

The ignorant "honor" claimOne thing no one seems to thing about, is a logo/mascot is a thing of pride. Native Americans should be as honored by the Blackhawks as those of Nordic decent are of the Vikings, or the Irish are of Notre Dame. No one names their team after something they hate, dispise, or intend to mock. The logo was chosen to represent the fierce will and determination shown by this country's proud indigenous people. To say its offensive to Native Americans is offensive to common sense.Actually, I've thought about and disputed that claim hundreds of times. You evidently haven't thought of or even read the responses to that tired, trite claim.

Here's one of many such responses:

Smashing People: The "Honor" of Being an Athlete

One obvious rejoinder is: Who are you to tell Indians they should feel honored? The fact that you're imposing your feelings on them because you consider yourselves superior is part of the problem. You "honor" Indians by telling them to shut up...charming.

More to the point, Natives are challenging the clownish logo more than the name. Get it? The logo, not the name, is offensive because it stereotypes Indians as primitive people of the past.

In fact, none of you have addressed this point: how Bozo the Blackhawk doesn't represent the Sauk chief or his people, much less today's Sauk Indians. Now that you chickens have ducked the issue, try addressing it. If you're not wetting your pants at the thought of the butt-kicking you'll get, that is.

For more on the Blackhawks, see Blackhawks Mascot in The Dilemma and "Authentic" Chiefs from "Blackhawks" Tribe.

Blackhawks mascot in The Dilemma

Indianz.com posted this picture from the new movie The Dilemma:



Comment:  Vince Vaughn and Kevin James are wearing Chicago Blackhawks jerseys. Note especially the crossed tomahawks or war clubs on the shoulders.

Black Hawk and his men probably painted themselves like this and used these weapons. But that was almost 200 years ago. It's as stereotypical as it would be to portray every American as Daniel Boone or Andrew Jackson.

Nice to see "liberal" Hollywood is still so sensitive to Native issues...not.

For more on the subject, see Alternative Logo for Blackhawks and Severed Head Suggests Dead Indians.

Black Hawk statue = mishmash of tribes

Taft’s ‘Black Hawk’ sculpture marks 100th year on river bluff

By Theo Jean KenyonHe’s been looking westward, towering above the Rock River, for the past century, but Lorado Taft’s monumental Indian near Oregon, Ill., only recently was designated an Illinois landmark.And:While it has usually been referred to as “Black Hawk,” the leader of a regional band of the Sac-Fox tribe remembered for the Black Hawk War of 1832, Taft neither named it or intended it as a representation of Black Hawk.

He referred to the monument as “the Indian” or “the colossus” calling it a composite of the Foxes, the Sacs, the Sioux and the Mohawks.Comment:  I like the idea of this statue, but the execution is mundane. The figure is a generic Indian in braids and an abstract robe or blanket. His features look Western to me; he could be George Washington or Thomas Jefferson in a wig.

Taft's explanation of the statue's appearance is the real problem. As far as I know, the Sac and Fox, Sioux, and Mohawk people have nothing in common. They're three distinct groups from three parts of the country. You might as well say something is a combination of Irish, Italian, and Russian--three Caucasian groups who also have little or nothing in common.

And again, the statue resemble anything except a stereotypical Indian. It certainly doesn't look much like Black Hawk. Taft would've been better off sculpting Black Hawk or another historical figure from the region. The statue's concept and placement work, but the actual sculpture fails.

For more on Black Hawk, see "Authentic" Chief from "Blackhawks" Tribe and Blackhawks Know Nothing About Black Hawk. For more on Native statues, see Peace Park Proposed for Zion, Replacing Chief Bemidji Statue, and Stereotypical Massasoit Statue Returns.

Blackhawks know nothing about Black Hawk

Origin of a name:  Blackhawks name founded in history, controversy

Some of American Indian heritage hope playoff push offers teaching moment about Chief Black Hawk

By Ron GrossmanCyndee Fox-Starr, whose father played in the 1950s for a local hockey team in full Indian headdress, is rooting for the Hawks but hopes the playoffs will provide a teachable moment.

"Maybe others will see we're a people, not mascots," said Fox-Starr, who is of Omaha and Odawa Indian parentage.

Fox-Starr is special events coordinator at the American Indian Center on West Wilson Avenue in Chicago, where it has been a season of mixed emotions. Some patrons and staff are hockey fans. Others who don't follow the sport are rooting for the home team out of civic pride—but with a tinge of sadness when they see the Indian-head logo on players' jerseys.

"I'm excited for the franchise," said Negwes White, 23, a youth worker at the center. "But I don't think Blackhawks fans have any understanding of our culture."

Blackhawks management's policy is not to comment on the issue. But in the team's clubhouse, the Blackhawk Indian logo is held sacred. No one steps on it, and it's kept illuminated. A few years ago, former coach Denis Savard backtracked on his use of the phrase "commit to the Indian" when trying to rally the team. But loyal fans repeat it with gusto.And:Even Chicagoans of American Indian descent can be stumped by the question of who Black Hawk was and what he did.

"I don't know anything about him," said Alex Figueroa, 13. A member of the Taino tribe, he was shooting baskets with other young American Indians in an alley behind the Indian Center in Uptown. "We didn't learn about him in school."And:Even though the Blackhawks' use of the logo has been more subtle, it troubles Fox-Starr when she sees fans wearing war bonnets. She is bothered when crowds at sporting events clap in Indian rhythms, which have a religious significance.

"Each drumbeat signifies a heartbeat," she said.Comment:  Blackhawk players respect "the Indian" so much that they won't step on his image. Blackhawk fans chant "commit to the Indian." Their idea of "the Indian" is a orange-skinned "brave" in facepaint. They wear warbonnets and clap in some weird tribal rite to show their love of this "Indian."

Meanwhile, they don't have a clue about the real Chief Black Hawk. They're in love with a fantasy figure, a cartoon image, and they couldn't care less about real Indians. If a descendant of Black Hawk protested the mascot, they'd tell him to go to hell.

This is pretty much the mascot debate in a nutshell. Mascot supporters cherish their stereotypical notion of Indians as primitive people of the past. Like children and Dudesons, it's all they know about Indians.

In contrast, real Indians are a complete void to them: unknown, invisible, and not worth thinking about. So fans "honor" them by ignoring them. By preferring their romanticized, idealized Indians of yesteryear to the complex, conflicted Indians of today.

For more on the subject, see Team Names and Mascots.

P.S. Black Hawk is another Indian chief immortalized as a killer weapon system--the helicopter immortalized in Black Hawk Down.

Below:  The real Black Hawk:



And the fictional one: