Sunday, May 29, 2005

Natives support culturally accurate Chief

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg29.html

Excerpt:

May 29, 2005
BY GREG COUCH SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Every time I hear the argument over Chief Illiniwek, I get the feeling
that someone is missing from the debate. It's like a 100-year-old
great-grandpa is sitting in the corner of the room, and half the family
insists he'd like a glass of milk, while the other half screams he'd
rather have coffee.

Everyone thinks he knows better. No one asks the old guy.

In Illinois' case, that's a bit of a stretch, as this has nothing to
do with family. Instead, it's roughly a bunch of white people at a
university claiming that their American Indian symbol honors American
Indians, while a bunch of Phd.'s and people from organizations with a
lot of capital letters say he's offensive.

Yet probably 150 people were at Aurora University on Saturday in
authentic American Indian regalia, doing authentic American Indian
dances to authentic American Indian beats.

That's because they were authentic American Indians, from roughly two
dozen tribes across the United States and Canada. It was the school's
15th annual Powwow, and it starts up again today at 1:30.

Thorpe Sine's 6-year-old, Kyle, was totally out of control with his
Hacky Sack and kept knocking over the director's chairs his family was
sitting in before their turn to dance. Sine, a Ho-Chunk Indian from
Glenpool, Okla., was sitting on a University of Illinois chair.

Are you familiar with Chief Illiniwek?

''Yeah, I've seen it,'' he said, in full regalia, including beautiful
feather arm bands. ''I don't see it as authentic. But I have no problem
with it. I've got a lot of family down there in Illinois, where my
grandfather was living. Very few Indians are offended by that.''

Sine goes to 40 or 50 powwows across the country each year to pass on
the culture to Kyle.

I went around the powwow asking Grandpa what he wanted to drink,
listening to the experts about Illiniwek. Stuff like, "Are you honored
by him or offended?'' Has anyone asked them? Because we've had this
debate for 15 years now.

They did not give the final answer. But this was an effort to get the
right people into the discussion.

The Chief should stay

My sense now is that the Chief should stay, but not the way he is. How
about a little actual research. The only credible person we've heard
from so far was Charlene Teters, an American Indian and former U of I
grad student. She is offended by the Chief, and said so throughout the
documentary, ''In Whose Honor.'' Since then, members of the Illinois
Board of Trustees have walked around campus with Groucho Marx nose and
glasses, hiding from the issue.

How about going to one of these powwows, or a bunch of them, talking
with, maybe polling, these American Indians who are there for their
6-year-olds, trying to pass on accuracy, history and family. They
aren't in it for the politics, or because they love a team name.

Meanwhile, I now have serious doubt about the authenticity of the
Chief. We've been told about how one of the first Chiefs hitchhiked
across the country in the 1920s to some tribe to learn how to honor our
state's history.

For sure, the drumbeat sound all day in Aurora was not what we hear at
Illini games. That ''THUMP, thump, thump, thump. THUMP, thump, thump,
thump.''

''John Wayne,'' Charlie Belisle and Rich Figueroa, Oneida Indians who
live in Green Bay, said at the same time.

Belisle said the beat is supposed to represent a heartbeat. And if
anyone's heart is beating like that, he had better call 911.

And Figueroa said that ''Native American men do not high-kick.''

Chief Illiniwek does. I heard that theme again and again, about the
Hollywood beat and the high-kicking. It was three hours of research.

Let's hear again about the great lengths they went to at Illinois to
make this thing accurate.

If you can get to the powwow today, do it. They have booths selling
all sorts of authentic stuff, from handcarved flutes to rabbit fur.
It's outdoors, in the campus quad, by the Schingoethe Center for Native
American Studies. They have bleachers around a huge dance circle, and
guys sit in the middle thumping the beat, the legit beat, while
different groups or tribes do their dance.

Both sides have support

What do you think of Indian sports symbols and mascots?

''As long as it's done in a respectful way, that's fine,'' said Walker
Stonefish, a Delaware Potawatomi from Walpole Island, Ontario. One
dancer, who declined to give his name, said Illiniwek is an insult,
that it's an honor to earn the rank of chief, not something you can
just slap on a sports team. Another said it was too much of a
caricature.

Belisle and Figueroa think Indian mascots and symbols honor them, as
long as they don't go overboard like the chant at Atlanta Braves games.

''At Marquette,'' Belisle said, ''I don't know why they went away from
Warriors. And there's a high school just outside the reservation, and
they were called the Seymour Indians. Now, they're dropping Indians. It
doesn't make sense.''

Now the NCAA is considering forcing schools to drop American Indian
mascots. I hope they're talking to the right people.

Meanwhile, I got an e-mail last month that said, ''those American
Indians who are not offended are so numbed by the way American Indians
have historically been treated and depicted, that they are pleased that
there is some recognition at all.''

It came from someone at the Illinois Native American Bar Association.

Maybe there's some truth to that, but I still think Grandpa is a
credible source for what he wants.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

UI sends Chief report to NCAA

5/3/05
By
Courtney Linehan

Excerpt:

The University sent a report Friday in response to a request from the NCAA that it and 30 other member institutions self evaluate their uses of logos, nicknames and mascots deriving from American-Indian terms.

The report came after the NCAA's Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee requested a six-month investigation. The deadline to respond was Sunday.

Illinois sent the NCAA a 13-page report and 27 related documents, including the 2000 Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek report, documentation of two Chief-related lawsuits and copies of various Board of Trustees motions regarding the issue.

"We took it very seriously, and I think basically it afforded us an opportunity to review so much that's already been done by this institution," said Tom Hardy, executive director for University Relations.

In asking the 31 schools to complete self evaluations, the NCAA hoped to develop a better understanding of why schools use American-Indian imagery, said Gail Dent, NCAA associate director of public and media relations.

"The NCAA requested that select schools in its membership complete the self evaluations as an additional resource to examine ongoing use of American-Indian imagery, which includes mascots, logos, behavior and nicknames," Dent said.

Illinois' report emphasized that the Chief Illiniwek symbol continues to be a topic of controversy on campus and that the Board of Trustees is working toward a consensus resolution to the issue.

The document detailed the main arguments in support and opposition of the use of the Chief Illiniwek symbol. It briefly summarized the history of the Illini name and how it is used around campus.

While the report emphasized that the University does not have a mascot, significant space was dedicated to discussing Chief Illiniwek, his role in the University environment and the debate surrounding him.

Hardy said the length to which the campus community has debated the Chief made it easy to assemble the information requested without doing additional research.

"So much input has come from every direction of those involved in the issue, and every point of view is represented, every action that has been taken is represented," Hardy said. "I think it's going to be a valuable resource for the NCAA, a valuable resource for our Board of Trustees as they move forward, and certainly for anybody else who wants to learn more about the issue."

Illinois is not the only campus on which the school's use of American-Indian imagery has been a hot topic. Schools such as University of North Dakota, UNC-Pembroke and Florida State have spent considerable time determining whether to continue the use of their mascots, logos and nicknames.

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