(This was originally posted to the Facebook group "Petition to keep the FIGHTING SIOUX NAME" by the author.)
Greetings,
I am not here to say that you guys are wrong or to disrespect your cause. I honestly admire your devotion and steadfast commitment to this cause. I do, however, want to give you the opportunity to understand all angles of this issue.
To start with, I am not offended by the aesthetically appealing logo or the name "Fighting Sioux". I recently attended a hockey game for the first time in two years, and I enjoyed the intensity of the game and the sportsmanship that UND fans have for their team.
I am here to share an article that was written in the Grand Forks Herald. I feel that it would be beneficial to read it and see how the use of a human image as a materialistic representation is not right.
The only reason I don't agree with the use of the logo and name is a small number of less educated individuals who use the representation in a disrespectful way. They wear paint and use aspects of a traditional culture in a way that is not correct. It is embarrassing, It makes fun of the culture it is representing incorrectly, and It is hurtful to the American Indian students who have to see that every single day. A common misconception is that Indian students get education for free; take it from me, a Dakotah Sioux from the Spirit Lake Nation, I have to work for my education and I pay my dues. Ask yourselves if you would feel welcome in an environment where your heritage is paraded on the shirts of people who don't know what it means, on the side of beer mugs. It is one thing if it is used correctly, but it is another if it is not. I truly wish that the nickname could remain and be used respectfully, but that small number of students who are ignorant of what they are doing are hurting students who are entitled to an education that they pay 12,000 dollars a year for. I would think that UND's true sports fans are decent enough to not disrespect others. I would hope that the men and women I walk across campus at 20 below zero are those kind of people. Thank you.
Grand Forks Herald
VIEWPOINT : A genocide of the mind
By Chase Iron Eyes ,
Published Sunday, November 18, 2007
AURORA, Colo. - The heart of the problem is a conceptual flaw in the practice of using Indian logos. We don't want change simply because we disagree semantically with the word “Sioux”. No, we want change because our very identity is under attack.
This issue is not about Indians complaining about degrading treatment from non-Indians. This is about our own existence.
Since we lost control of our spiritual self-determination, it has been very hard for our children to learn that their sense of self-worth comes from our living religion.
A transformation happened when a collective Euro-American consciousness began to dictate what is the essence of an American Indian. This transformation made the existence of Indian nicknames possible.
But the practice of using Indian nicknames is evidence of that transformation. This transformation also is called “objectification.”
The most devastating aspect of Indians as nicknames and logos is the objectification of our race.
Objectification goes back to the days of the papal bulls that claimed non-Christians had no rights of their own, as well as to stories about the white experience in Indigenous country. Stories were widespread about “the savage red men just beyond the frontier.”
The very fact that a group of folks tried to “define” a culture demonstrates that “Sioux” identity was under attack from a forceful objectification that would supplant all conceptions, even our own, of Indian identity.
No longer are we living our identity; we are looking at it through a lens created by the European - a lens in which Indians are inferior and whites are superior. We are looking through a lens created and shown by the use of Indians as team nicknames and mascots.
Inevitably, we judge our own “Indianness” based on the whole of our life experiences and learning. Largely, the whole of our learning consists of foreign perceptions and views on the world, learned in schools, on TV and from other outlets.
Creating a team name based on a race of people makes it easier for Indians and non-Indians to sense that object group (Indians) as something different than the group using the nickname (humans).
This process is dehumanization. It is the subtle shift in thinking that takes place when we are used as team nicknames.
The Indian nickname dilemma is so dangerous because it is doing significant damage while a large portion of us are unaware of it. Because the objectification of Indians is so widespread, accepted and institutionalized, we unwittingly buy into the idea that Indian team nicknames are harmless.
In reality, this objectification is undercutting our self-esteem and it is damaging the way the world sees us.
It is our cultural/intellectual resources being taken from us - our identity. We get nothing but ridicule and disdain for our faiths, cultures and identities. Our kids and people are still subjected to scorn for our identity when they see that our essence is being objectified.
Why has the Indian nickname and logo remained? People see this as something not affecting their day-to-day lives. But make no mistake, the problem is not abstract; this practice causes damage to our own individual and national self esteem.
By not allowing our essence to be misappropriated and outright disrespected by others, we are promoting proper spiritual, mental and emotional health for our wicoicage or future generations. We will not see this debate go away any time soon. It will remain so long as Natives with informed senses of identity survive into the new millennium.
Iron Eyes is a UND graduate and a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
~Alex
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