The pussification of America continues - Illinois retire Chief Illiniwek

[pr_capone]

I am SICK of this PC crap. Watch out tho... the Braves and Chiefs are next.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2796923

URBANA, Ill. -- The University of Illinois swept aside the last vestiges of Chief Illiniwek on Tuesday, voting to retire the mascot's name, regalia and image.

The school will continue to call its sports teams the Fighting Illini under the resolution. Chancellor Richard Herman is to decide how and when Chief Illiniwek's name and image will stop being used and licensed to apparel makers and others.

Activists and some American Indians have long complained the chief is demeaning. Backers defend him as an honorable tradition.

The school decided in February to end performances of the chief, leading the NCAA to lift sanctions that had barred Illinois from hosting postseason sports since 2005. The NCAA had deemed Illiniwek -- portrayed since 1926 by buckskin-clad students who danced at home football and basketball games and other sports events -- an offensive use of American Indian imagery.

Trustee David Dorris offered the only dissent Tuesday among the 10 voting members.

"When you look at Chief Illiniwek and you see hate, shamefulness and embarrassment, perhaps you should sit down and consider where those feelings come from," he said before the vote.

Board chairman Lawrence Eppley voted for the resolution but said he agreed with Dorris' assessment that the chief had been a proud tradition for many years.

"Certainly my vote is not intended to dishonor anybody's memories or to deny the fact that it's been a great tradition," Eppley said.

The board Tuesday also took the unusual step of ratifying the February decision. The earlier decision came without a vote from the board, which Eppley has said wasn't needed. Nonetheless, board spokesman Thomas Hardy said voting now could blunt any legal action claiming there should have been a vote.

A state lawmaker asked the attorney general's office whether making the decision without a vote was legal.

Board members also voted down Dorris' resolution that would have directed the university to join a lawsuit filed by the last two students to portray the chief. The suit asks a judge to determine whether the NCAA could sanction Illinois over the mascot.

Board member Robert pterling told Dorris his resolution would only postpone the inevitable.

"The time has come," he said. "[The chief] bothered a whole lot of people for a long time."

Graduate student Genevieve Tenoso, a Lakota Sioux, told the board before the vote that by not doing away with the chief sooner, they helped create an atmosphere in which she sometimes didn't feel safe.

"I haven't had one single day on this campus when something didn't remind of the Indian you prefer me to be rather than the living, breathing native person that I am," she said.

WTF?!?!?!

She did not feel "safe" because of the mascot of the school??? Also, I love the "the Indian you prefer me to be rather than the living, breathing native person that I am" quote there. ****ing priceless.

[greg63]

Originally Posted by KCWolfman

Yup, originally it was associated with thiefs and looters in 1848. It was a combination of two birds, the blue jay (a noisy quarrelsome bird) and a sparrow hawk (a thief of other birds).

Both sides, prior to the Civil War, took the name Jayhawk - it eventually stuck with the Northern Cavalry.

However, since it's roots are deep in lawlessness and the confederacy, one would think their mascot could be rendered impotent by the NCAA as well.

Yeah, like the Oklahoma "Sooners"; a term originally used to describe people who cheated in the great Oklahoma land race to get the land that we cheated the Native Americans out of fair and square.



To do away with those names would be a slap in the face of Lawyers and Realtors everywhere.

[alanm]

Originally Posted by Swanman

Part of it is caused by the causehead crowd, but the main group behind the protests is out of Madison, Wisconsin and they won't be happy until every team is named the Fuzzy Bunnies, although they'd probably find a way to be offended by that as well.

I wouldn't be opposed to Wis. getting rid of the buck toothed beaver as their mascot and replace it with scantily dressed coed's who do a Hustler shoot once in awhile.

[nychief]

Originally Posted by pr_capone

I am part American Indian and there are several teams which use my tribe as part of their team so feel free to shove that up your ass.

BTW, also a veteran and have taken part of the Veterans Day parade as well as volunteered several times at the VA and I still fail to see your "logic".

I can see offence being taken in a situations where a tribe or a single indian is made to look like a fool. That was not the case at all with the Chief.

Logic would dictate that as if in the case of the Chief where the "icon" is used in an honorable manner, then it should not be a problem. You get another school that gets their kicks by using an Indian stumbling around drinking "fire water" as their half-time entertainment... then that is where action needs to be taken.

It is simply a case of political correctness gone awry and it is infuriating. Soon enough people wont be poor but capital deprived, sick people will be health challenged, and people of color will be overly pigment endowed.

Do me a favor and learn about the Chief before you go spouting off about how Indians are made to look bad because of him.

Oh shit... I said Indian instead of Native American!

But can you use Microsoft Word?
How asked for your resume?
Lay off the firewater Private Wahoo.

[nychief]

Originally Posted by pr_capone

I am part American Indian and there are several teams which use my tribe as part of their team so feel free to shove that up your ass.

BTW, also a veteran and have taken part of the Veterans Day parade as well as volunteered several times at the VA and I still fail to see your "logic".

I can see offence being taken in a situations where a tribe or a single indian is made to look like a fool. That was not the case at all with the Chief.

Logic would dictate that as if in the case of the Chief where the "icon" is used in an honorable manner, then it should not be a problem. You get another school that gets their kicks by using an Indian stumbling around drinking "fire water" as their half-time entertainment... then that is where action needs to be taken.

It is simply a case of political correctness gone awry and it is infuriating. Soon enough people wont be poor but capital deprived, sick people will be health challenged, and people of color will be overly pigment endowed.

Do me a favor and learn about the Chief before you go spouting off about how Indians are made to look bad because of him.

Oh shit... I said Indian instead of Native American!

But can you use Microsoft Word?
Who asked for your resume?
Lay off the firewater Private Wahoo.

[pr_capone]

Originally Posted by nychief

But can you use Microsoft Word?
Who asked for your resume?
Lay off the firewater Private Wahoo.

It was in reply to Keg.