Institutional Racist

Yeah. I'm an institutional racist. I graduated from a university that smears the name & the image...not to mention the honor of a race of people. We aggressively & routinely remind students & fans of our football team of the primitive and backward beginnings of the Native American people. We mock their sacred traditions and dress. We meaninglessly chant the sacred Native American battle cries at sporting events. Yes, my Alma Mater, Arkansas State University chose to christen their athletic program with the Indian mascot because they felt it was the most adequate method of insulting all Native Americans and to elevate the superiority of the white man above the savages.

Is that what these groups want us to say?? Well, I said it.

Now get over it.

The Comanche Nation College of Lawton, Oklahoma (note...they come from over 250 miles away...in another state!) has been beleagering the Faculty Senate at ASU about changing the University's mascot.

Brian Daffron, a former ASU student, and his family were present to provide a Native American perspective on the Indian mascot issue. Daffron, who teaches at Comanche Nation College, thanked the faculty for passing resolutions in recent years aimed at getting rid of the Indian mascot. Daffron spoke with enthusiasm about the need to do away with the mascot.
- from The Herald of Arkansas State University

I went to the school's website. I saw their faculty. I have more fingers & toes than they have staff. And just how is having a mascot, which actually honors Native Americans & their tenatious spirit, can be views in an aggressive or offensive manner is purely beyond my scope. Heck, if I were in the Faculty Senate at ASU, I would give them written permission to call the Comanche Nation College football team the "Commanche Nation College Palefaces"!! It wouldn't bother me.

Furthermore, I would also tell this windbag former student that when the State of Oklahoma changes IT'S name, ASU will change their mascot.

Daffron concluded that the ASU Indian family’s depiction of Native Americans was offensive to many, calling it institutional racism.

I looked up "Oklahoma" and found this:

The name Oklahoma comes from the language of the Choctaw people, who were removed from Mississippi to "Indian Territory" by the United States Government in the early to mid-1800s. "Oklahoma" is a combination of two Choctaw words: okla which means "people," (as in the term "Miliki okla," which means "American people"), and homa, "homma," or "humma," various spellings of the Choctaw word which means, among other denotations, "red." - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RED?

Oh, now that should really rile up ol' Daffron.

I had always thought choosing a mascot was a way of honoring something...not insulting it. Will all the Audobon Society members start flocking to schools who call their athletic teams "the Eagles"?? Will we start seeing Jack Hanna at the Columbus Zoo start bringing lawsuits against schools for their derrogatory depictions of Tigers?

Brian is the Adjunct Professor of English at CNC. Maybe he can use the fine education he received at ASU to do some serious research as to how the use of the Indian mascot is damaging to Native Americans...and make it pertinent to ASU. Not to the general Native American public. I guess keeping the authenticity of the Native American spirit alive doesn't count...unless it's done by a Comanche.