My Note:
I don’t agree with this editorial, not even a small bit. But it is
interesting reading.
Wrong fight
Our
position: In trying to protect its fighting Indian mascot, FSU is off base.
Posted August 9, 2005
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Florida State University is
fighting the wrong fight in trying to keep its Seminole mascot that many
American Indians find offensive. Ideally, the institution and its fans will
recognize that before embarking on an expensive and embarrassing court battle.
FSU's fans consider "Chief" Osceola leading the Seminoles onto the
football field and sticking a flaming spear into the turf a treasured
tradition.
But American Indians have complained for years about the stereotypes portrayed
at FSU and on other college campuses. Dozens of schools have listened to the
concerns and changed their mascots out of respect to those who complained,
while FSU and 17 other schools have not.
The NCAA Executive Committee last week responded by banning schools that
display "hostile or abusive" mascots from playing in championship
tournaments, affecting all sports but football.
FSU President T.K. Wetherell not surprisingly took issue with this, arguing
that the Seminoles mascot is a tribute to the fighting spirit of the Florida
Seminole. But Mr. Wetherell can't escape the fact that, intended or not, the
images of Osceola in war paint and thousands of fans doing the "Seminole
Chop" portray American Indians as savages.
In his anger, Mr. Wetherell vowed to sue the NCAA. That would be a mistake,
sending the message that FSU is willing to fight to the end for the right to
offend people. It is a stand no respected institution of higher learning should
take.
An even bigger mistake would be to portray such a lawsuit as a battle against
political correctness. The step taken by the NCAA is not an attempt to kowtow
to interest groups. This is a recognition by the organization that these images
-- historically accurate or not -- offend many of those whose cultures are
being portrayed.
Presumably Mr. Wetherell would not support calling FSU's teams the Pickaninnies
and starting each game with students in blackface tap-dancing out to the
50-yard-line for a spirited rendition of "Camp Town Races."
Times change. Just as black men resent being called "boy" and adult
women wince at being referred to as "girls," American Indians object
to terms like the Braves, Savages and Redmen. Why? Because demeaning terms
justify and encourage subtle discrimination against individuals in the group.
It perpetuates prejudice and keeps people in those groups on society's lower
rung.
FSU's defense that the Seminole Tribe of Florida has voted to endorse the use
of the symbols by FSU really serves only to bolster the NCAA's argument. The
leaders of the larger Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma -- where the United States
relocated Seminoles they could find after fighting three wars -- cheered the
NCAA decision.
That only shows that FSU and others can't pick which Seminoles they want to
listen to. FSU should listen to the concerns of American Indians and remove the
offensive images.
http://www.the-sandbox.org
Judge not the horse by his saddle. - Chinese Proverb
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