An Informative Crosspost

In the "Open Thread" below, blogger and professor Debbie Reese notes some significant errors in an NPR News story covering the history of Pueblo people. You can read her post here.

Deuce's Last Dance

If you are one of the white boys who dressed up as the fan-beloved mock-Indian, NPR wants to talk to you! As they did a few days ago, this morning, in one of the hourly news round-ups, NPR completely ignored the anti-racist activists who have been fighting for the removal of the UI mascot and against the stereotyping of Indians at the UI for years and instead covered the "chief" controversy at the UI by talking to the white boy who dresses up as "Chief Illiniwek." Last night was the last official dance of this faux-Indian mascot, and all NPR can do is talk to the white boy who was known as "Deuce" and "Ass" before he became the latest "dramatic and dignified" mascot performer for the UI.

Mocking Native Americans

I live in Champaign-Urbana. Home of the University of Illinois. Today the University took the pathetic, small step of announcing the end to public performances at athletic halftime events of a white boy dressed up as an Indian doing clownish pretend Indian dance. NPR was all over this one (They have a thing about Indian mascots--see previous post).

Instead of covering the long struggle against this mock-Indian vaudeville halftime show, NPR decided to interview one of the former white guys who was dressed up as the mascot, "chief illiniwek." That's the only person they spoke to! And then they ended the story with the equally offensive Illinois marching band let's-play-Indian song.

It's sad that they didn't see fit to call up the brave Charlene Teters, one of the first organizers against the University mascot. They also might have taken a look at the American Indian Movement website against mascots. I'd recommend that Michelle Norris and the producers of the show take a look at the Tolerance.org site on Native American mascots.

Lastly, if you can stand it and want to see what the mascot looks like this is a site of photos.

Close to Home

On yesterday's ATC Robert Siegel had a "cheery" story about the use of Indian names and mascots for colleges and universities. McMurray University of Abeliene, Texas faced sanctions from the NCAA, lost an appeal to keep the name "Indians," and so decided to opt for no nickname at all. Siegel described McMurray as "not so lucky" compared to schools like Florida State University who won their appeals. He also smartly informs us that "the Indian spirit is alive and well on campus."

This story hits close to home. Back in the early 90s I took my sons to a women’s basketball game at our local Univeristy (UIUC) and was aghast at the halftime show put on by "Chief Illiniwek" the University's mascot. What I saw was a young barefooted white guy dressed up in mock-chief regalia and war paint who pranced, high-stepped, strutted, and gestured across the basketball court. Then he stopped for a somber "prayerful" pose as the Alma Mater was sung. It was utterly shameless and embarassing.

The "Chief Illiniwek" controversy reveals some deep and distrurbing truths that Siegel’s news-lite doesn’t even approach. He could have called American Indian Charlene Teters to talk about her experience of witnessing the "Chief’s" dance with her children, of organizing to have the "Chief" dropped, and of dealing with hateful reactions of white fans. He might have talked to the Peoria Indians of Oklahoma. He might have talked to the NCAA about why they think Indian mascots create a "hostile" environment (we’ve had evidence of this here lately).

Siegel, broadcasting from the home city of the "Redskins," could have sought out informed commentary on the issue, but instead he opted for the lighthearted and mocking tone that belittles those who find racist mascots troubling.