UPDATE: It seems some of our readers disagree with me. Feel free to join the heated discussion in our comments section here.
I'm sorry, I never saw the problem. Illinois, which I attended, didn't have an indian mascot the way you might think. There was no goofball running around with a tomahawk pretending to scalp people. The mascot was an honorable position, it was a big deal to get the job, and he only appeared in a half-time show that involved an incredibly exhausting dance that paid homage to our state's native American heritage - it doesn't poke fun, mock, anything. And yeah, I get that some native Americans didn't like it. But that doesn't mean they're right. First step, you have the right to complain. Second step, you need to prove your point. I'm not convinced they have. The NCAA, and others, just killed a perfectly respectful tradition that actually reminded Illinoisans of their heritage and made us proud in our school and our state (and frankly, reminded us of our state's native American past, something that is going to be remembered less now as a result of this action). Our mascot was killed because of the caricature that others ascribed to it, not because of the caricature it was - which it was not.
I'll also add that the explanation as to why my school gets to keep its name, the fighting Illini, is a joke:
Illinois still will be able to use the name the Illini because it's short for Illinois and the school can use the term Fighting Illini, because it's considered a reference to the team's competitive spirit, school officials said.I'm from Illinois. Illini isn't short for Illinois. How many people do you know who hail from Chicago, Illini? That's absurd. The name comes from the Illini indians, as frankly does the name of the school and the name of the state. Unless the NCAA plans to ban the entire state of Illinois from participating in any post-season events, I'd like to hear an explanation as to why they're now simply playing games with all of this. Or is a respectful use of my state's Indian heritage acceptable, and if so, then why was Chief Illiniwek killed?
One more thing. I'm Greek. My junior high school mascot was a Spartan. Our mascot was about me and nobody else. I thought it was cool. I still do.
PS And they want us to return the outfit the mascot wore, an outfit that the chief of a tribe sold to the university, and not for a necklace of beads 300 years ago - it was a fair deal for $3500 in 1982, and the outfit wasn't historic, it was made by the chief's wife (there's some dispute about the feathers in the headress being special, fine, return the feathers if they can find them). Enough is enough, they got their piece of flesh - at least keep the outfit in a museum. Their chief knew what he was doing, he even came to the university to celebrate the sale.
