American Indians ask Supreme Court to rule on Redskins logo

[madinmaryland]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/nfl/09/15/skins.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A group of American Indians who find the Washington Redskins name offensive wants the Supreme Court to take up the matter.

The group on Monday asked the justices to review a lower court decision that favored the NFL team on a legal technicality.

Seven Native Americans have been working through the court system since 1992 to have the Redskins trademarks declared invalid. A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel ruled in their favor in 1999. But they've been handed a series of defeats from judges who ruled that the plaintiffs waited too long to bring their suit in the first place.

A lawyer for the group says he'd like to see the highest court decide whether the Redskins name defames Native Americans.

..snip

They could change their name to the Natinals!

[PVnRT]

1. Flame away, but it's about time that went away

Along with the name "Redskins." No one would tolerate having the Atlanta Darkies or Boston Micks as teams, why is this OK?

Oh, and Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians can go away too.

[trumad]

2. agree

[Onceuponalife]

5. agree

I cringe whenever I see that cap. And Atlanta Braves and Florida St. fans should be ashamed of themselves for that insulting chant that trivializes NA culture.

[abqmufc]

11. FSU has the consent of the Florida Seminole Tribe

The federally recognized tribe, the Florida Seminole Nation, by tribal council decree has given full consent to Florida State University for the use of name and logo. There are guidelines which the University must follow.

http://www.fsu.edu/news/2005/06/17/seminole.support/

Several colleges have changed their names like Marquette University, University of North Dakota, and St. Johns University.

I found the following at the following website.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WMX/is_8_23/ai_n26905155/

"Four institutions were allowed to keep their nicknames--Central Michigan University, Florida State University, Mississippi College and the University of Utah. All four institutions successfully appealed the policy by providing the NCAA with written endorsements from American Indian "namesake" groups in their respective states. UND's appeal was denied largely because they didn't receive such an endorsement.

Bradley University, in Peoria, Ill., also was able to keep its "Braves" nickname upon a successful appeal because it showed that the name was not in reference to American Indians, but to positive qualities such as honor, courage, tenacity and loyalty. Nevertheless, the NCAA is placing Bradley on a five-year watch list, during which time the NCAA will "work with the school to assure that circumstances do not change," according to a NCAA statement."

The University of Utah gained the approval of the Ute Mountain Tribe and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe to use the 'Ute's' are their name. Central Michigan University gained the support of the federally recognized tribes in the state of Michigan and also the state recognized tribe. Not sure about Mississippi College, but I would assume they got the support from the only federally recognized tribe in the state.


Of course the University of Illinois has s a long standing issue and Chief Illiniwek was retired, and the "Fighting Illini" is still used, but the issue here is that there is no federally recognized tribe called the Illini as most were killed. So who can give the OK? the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) seems to always have a resolution on the issue.


I feel at issue is how is the term used? For FSU and CMU it was deemed by the tribe's to be a favorable mascot and name. However, the term "Redskin" is a slur and in no way a positive term. That is why St. Johns U. dropped it.

[Onceuponalife]

16. Interesting...

The name and logo I can see, but how do they feel about that stupid chant?

[hughee99]

18. I wonder if the "Fighting Irish" and "Rajin' Cajuns" will follow suit. n/t

[madinmaryland]

26. The "Fighting Amish"??

:wtf:

[Chan790]

29. I'd like to see Orangemen go away. n/m

[JonLP24]

30. They did. They're just called the Orange now

Syracuse Orange.

[JonLP24]

31. I really haven't learned a lot about this issue since 2005.

The NCAA at the time demanded justification for a lot of names I didn't even think about being offensive but stated of policy of names or mascots that are considered "hostile" or "abusive" banned all 'Indian' names for example Arkansas State went from the 'Indians' to the 'Red Wolves'. Notre Dame stated the majority of students and alumni of Irish heritage did not file any complaints about the offensiveness of the name or the mascot. I believe the Ragin' Cajuns is a case of honoring themselves. Team names that were named about a period of civilization was considered ok at the time being for example, SDSU Aztecz, USC Trojans, Michigan St Spartans, Portland St Vikings, etc. Believe it or not they also looked into names such as Tennessee Volunteers, UNLV Rebels, Minutemen and even Cowboys.

[hughee99]

32. Was it really about a "period of civilization" or is it just that

it's hard to find Aztecs, Trojans, Spartans and Vikings to complain. Yes, you can find decedents, but are their any organized groups of actual Spartans (by the way, that was my high school's nickname)? Since it sounds like the offensiveness is judged based on the opinion of the party in question (the specific tribes, for example), and there's no organized group in these cases, was there anyone to actually ask?

[JonLP24]

33. I really don't know

I understand there is a varying degree of offensiveness and I believe the NCAA targeted the most offensive or "hostile" or "abusive" to use their words. And like you said about the specific tribe names they did ask for there opinion. I don't know what has transpired since but there was a showdown between the South Dakota (St?) Fighting Sioux and the NCAA over the name at the time. In the case of FSU I believe it was approved because of their unique relationship with the community.

[Auggie]

3. Nothing is worse than the name and logo of the Cleveland baseball team...

a name and image, you may have noticed, that I go to lengths to avoid using.





Chief Wahoo should go

Posted by David Briggs/Plain Dealer Reporter April 05, 2008 01:00AM

In his historic speech on race, Sen. Barack Obama raised two important
truths: America is stuck in a racial stalemate based on profound
misunderstanding, and we cannot ignore these wounds "if we are to continue
on the path to a more perfect union."

If you don't believe him, consider the case of Chief Wahoo.

Many people see Wahoo as an affectionate symbol of the Cleveland Indians, a
harmless caricature that is threatened only by protesters who represent an
attitude of political correctness run amok.

But to many American Indians, and a large number of their supporters who
see the issue as a matter of moral conscience, the mascot, with its toothy
grin, hooked nose and fire-engine-red complexion, is a demeaning symbol
whose acceptance should be a source of shame in 2008.

"Cleveland is the home of the most offensive racial icon in the country,"
Charlene Teters, an artist and founding board member of the National
Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media, said during a demonstration
outside Progressive Field on Opening Day Monday. "Don't insult my
intelligence telling me this honors me. . . . It is 'Little Red Sambo.'"

LINK: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews/message/47017

[Capt. America]

6. 100% agreed. I live in Cleveland and I only buy non-Wahoo items. I thought the new owner might

do away with Wahoo since they were going with the script "I", but no luck. The people of this town love Wahoo and they have no idea how incredibly stupid and racist it is.

[Goblinmonger]

9. I'm a University of North Dakota alum

and only buy non-logo stuff.

[Auggie]

10. Weren't fans given a choice to replace the name/logo years back?

Mid 90's, if I recall correctly (they voted to keep it)! I tried to find info on this but came up short.

[abqmufc]

13. Yes, but

The college may have held a vote in the 1990s but in the early 21st century the NCAA made a ruling due to pressure from tribes and tribal organizations like the National Congress of American Indians. The NCAA stated all colleges had to submit a petition to keep the logo/mascot in question.

4 tribes did get to keep the logo/mascot b/c they had gained an OK from the federally recognized tribe affiliated with the logo/mascot.

University of North Dakota could not get the OK from all Sioux Nations and therefore had to drop the logo and name all together.

[Auggie]

14. Thanks. I was referring to the Cleveland team, but appreciate the info

on North Dakota.

Dartmouth College used the I nickname, unofficially, until the early-mid 70's.

[brendan120678]

21. This used to be my alma mater's logo:

Now it looks like these:





The reasons for changing were twofold:
1. To get rid of the racist logo & name
2. To be more gender-neutral

Of course, the nickname "Redmen" was originally coined because the team wore bright cardinal red since the team's inception. The logo came much later.

[DaveinMD]

22. the days

of Chris Mullin and Walter Berry were great. It sucks how bad they are right now.

[madinmaryland]

23. I remember Lou Carnesecca as their coach through the 70's and 80's.

They always seemed to have a strong squad.

[DaveinMD]

24. yep

Jarvis destroyed the program and they've never recovered. The games with Georgetown in the 80s were epic.

[madinmaryland]

25. They were almost a fraternity of coaches in the Big East during the 80's.

Carnesecca, Boeheim, John Thompson, Carlissimo, and who was the guy at Villanova who later replaced tarkanian at UNLV.

[DaveinMD]

28. Rollie Massemino

I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong.

[Captain Hilts]

8. The Braves logo was also pretty bad. The Redskins and Blackhawks were seen

very differently.

[Q3JR4]

4. I don't think you're going to get any help in the supreme court.

They care even less about these issues then, presumably, the courts who've ruled against you.

Q3JR4.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Seven native Americans filing suit. Will Native American schools will have to stop using it too?

[abqmufc]

12. No....b/c they are tribal colleges

If a tribal college or school chooses to keep a mascot or logo that is tribal in nature they can. Many tribal schools have changed such mascots and names. However, several in New Mexico and Arizona still have a name/mascot that would be questioned if it was a non-tribal school.

Of course this is not always well received by tribal organizations like National Congress of American Indians whose resolutions in the past seem to suggest they would rather get rid of all mascots and names.

http://www.ncai.org/ncai/resource/documents/governance/NCAIposis.htm
http://www.ncai.org/Anti-Defamation-and-Mascots.74.0.html

[Captain Hilts]

15. Interesting!

[Capt. America]

17. U of I did away with Chief Illiwek (much to the consternation of many)

[DaveinMD]

19. Change the team logo to the potato

as in Redskin potato. Then there would be no problem with keeping the name.

[madinmaryland]

20. There might be some issues from the Russets and Idaho Potatos!

:D

[JonLP24]

27. They should change their name to the Fighting Whites

I still got the sports illustrated that features the article somewhere but I thought it was a great idea. Wikipedia has it right.



The Fighting Whites (alternatively identified as Fightin' Whites, Fighting Whities, or Fightin' Whities) were an intramural basketball team formed at the University of Northern Colorado in 2002 and named in response to the Native American mascot controversy.<1>

The intramural college team briefly attracted a storm of national attention because of its satirical protest about stereotypes of Native Americans being used as sports mascots, particularly the "Fightin' Reds" of Eaton High School in Eaton, Colorado, not far from the university in Greeley. The Reds' mascot has been described as "a caricature Indian with a misshapen nose, a loincloth and eagle feather".<2>

The intramural team, which included players of Native American, white, and Latino ancestry,<3><4> adopted the name "Fighting Whites", with an accompanying logo of a stereotypical "white man" in a suit,<5> styled after advertising art of the 1950s, as their team mascot. The character has been described as a man from the Ozzie Nelson era<6> or a "'Father Knows Best' white American male".<7>

At first, the team's T-shirts used "Fightin' Whites" as the name of the team, but various media reports referred to the team as the "Whities" instead of "Whites".<8> In response to customer demand, the team eventually began selling shirts under both names. The team added the phrase "Fighting the use of Native American stereotypes" to its merchandise to discourage the shirts from being worn by white supremacists, and arranged for CafePress.com to handle manufacturing and sales of the clothing.<9>

The team sold enough shirts that they were eventually able to endow a sizeable scholarship fund for Native American students at UNC. In 2003, the team donated $100,000 to the University of Northern Colorado's UNC Foundation, which included $79,000 designated for the "Fightin' Whites Minority Scholarship".<10>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Whites