I support the Fighting Sues!!!

[Prairiepony]

Don't get me started............Go Illini!

[Junior]

Might have been better had the new ND law stated they would change when Florida State did, but I'm for ND also.

FSU received a signed release from the local tribes in Florida to use the tribal name which means they do not have to change their name. NDU can only get one of the two local tribes to sign.

so they're really only half sioux?

[mrydel]

Might have been better had the new ND law stated they would change when Florida State did, but I'm for ND also.

FSU received a signed release from the local tribes in Florida to use the tribal name which means they do not have to change their name. NDU can only get one of the two local tribes to sign.

so they're really only half sioux?

Which I guess would be throuee

[East Coast Mustang]

Is that what this "sues" is about? Race? Don't use our RACE against US.
As an American Indian person I am against any sports team using us as mascots (pets).
I still get racial slurs used against me today, as do many of my tribal members.
In cross country running when Mary or I was out winning the race there were many people that would yell "Hey Indian ____." And then throw rocks at us. Or shoot glass at us with sling shots. I still have a couple of little scratches on my legs from the glass shot at us. Many other things happened to us. No one would correct the cruel behaviour though, because we are "Injuns". Just like when I split open the bottom of my right foot when I was little running through a field and stepping on something I did not get to go to hospital because I was Indian. "Indians don't get to go to the hospital." Today, there are Indian hospitals.
I stand for not using any race of person as a mascot. I prefer not using any human being as a mascot. "Cowboys," for example, is a profession and not a race.
You have to know what all mascot really means because you can't just pull out a dictionary and learn about everything it really means at least when you are dealing with different cultures and translating and so on. I wrote an unpublished book about all this that I can teach from. I don't have plans to publish it. I just pass it on to the young tribal members.
And believe me this Indian mascot thing really hurts the children seeing themselves portrayed as mascots in a very profoundly negative way where usually at about age 10 they take a downward spiral and stop producing in life such as school work and social interactions with others.

Go to youtube and search Wichita language. There is an aljazeeraenglish news report that means a lot to me. Ms McClemore speaks in it. And it's so true. I speak fluent native languages but my cousins children, for example, who just signed to play sports at universities can only understand me and then struggle to put together mixed english and native languages to speak back. The great-great grandchildren (of my grandparents) are not even hearing our native languages enough to learn them. All this comes from..........yeah.

One of my interests is studying crimes. So I've studied medicine, criminology and so on.
One of my 1930's crime scene photos is of an American Indian man who was skinned.
The skin lying on a table is the crime scene photo.
Someone used him as a mascot. They skinwalked him. He was a mascot. It is still an unsolved crime. Who (probably murdered) and skinned this man to dress in his skin as an American Indian mascot? It is known that he was worn as a mascot.
One thing I like a lot about the University of North Texas is the forensic science department they have to help solve crimes.

If this is not about the Sioux being used as mascots it sure seems like it.
I thought this kind of stuff about race and all was not to be allowed.
If we were black people this would not be happening to us because the black people have power and past success in standing up for themselves. An example, the Cleveland MLB team with it's offensive smiling face Indian would not be allowed if it were black faced because that would be an offensive sambo to them.

So tiring that so many people still don't get it.
One thing being Indian has made one is rich. One can sell 1 acre in prime area for $2 million. One has a lot of prime land.
But hey, I'm really a nice person even though it doesn't sound so now just because I will take up for American Indians who are dying off as time goes on.

Allow me to jump in here for a moment.

I understand where you're coming from, and your objections to the names. That being said, this is a free country, and the beauty of living in a free country is you can offend people to a certain extent without being sanctioned. Hell, that's what I do half of the time.

Let me ask you this- do you think Fighting Irish is offensive? Should Notre Dame change their nickname? As someone of Irish descent, it doesn't offend me. I hate Notre Dame, but not for that reason. What about Patriots, or Padres, or Texans, or Yankees? Those are all nicknames depicting different groups of people- are they offensive as well?

My point is, just because someone is offended by something doesn't mean it's wrong. I agree with you that cartoonish depictions such as the Cleveland Indians' logo are degrading and probably should be changed. But nicknames weren't picked with the intention of making fun of a group of people- you pick a nickname for your team that you're proud to be associated with. People always decry the Redskins nickname- but it was never a reference to the pigmentation of Native Americans' skin; they derived that nickname from a tribe in New England (the team was originally in Boston) who painted their faces red by crushing up berries before battle as a war ritual. As for William & Mary, was a feather on their logo really that deplorable and out of bounds, considering all of the Native American history in the region? I don't think so.

I understand this is a sensitive subject for many of Native American descent, and people don't always see eye to eye on the matter. But I don't think, in most cases at least, that nicknames are picked and continued through the generations as a way to mock Native Americans

[Topper]

Might have been better had the new ND law stated they would change when Florida State did, but I'm for ND also.

FSU received a signed release from the local tribes in Florida to use the tribal name which means they do not have to change their name. NDU can only get one of the two local tribes to sign.

I believe FSU paid them for the rights to the name. I am not critical of the Native Americans who oppose the use of their names as sports mascots, I just can't wrap my mind around their logic. But in true American/Capitalist fashion their sacred image was for sale in Florida.

[Pony ^]

To hell with liberals!!!! This is all we talked about in a human rights class I once took. MISERABLE