And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: Robert Eurich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Here are two 4/14/99 newspaper articles concerning "Indian" sports team tokens. It's pretty amazing to me how this first one appears in what I believe is one of the main Cleveland area publications, The Plain Dealer. Very strong satirical parody. Something like this appearing in such a newspaper would probably have been unthinkable not too long ago. http://www.cleveland.com:80/news/pdnews/metro/c14scru.ssf <clipped excerpt> A plan to spread racism around Wednesday, April 14, 1999 By AFI-ODELIA SCRUGGS THE PLAIN DEALER In an attempt to deflect charges of selective racism, a consortium of sports team owners has announced a new policy for naming teams. The monikers, as well as mascots, will be picked from a wide-ranging pool of ethnic stereotypes and nicknames. "This should put an end to accusations that team owners are insensitive to Native Americans," said consortium spokesman Richard Hardhead. "Now, no single ethnic or racial group can complain that we're treating them unfairly." Hardhead admitted the new policy is in response to a recent decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The federal agency ruled that the Washington Redskins football team can no longer trademark its name and logo because they are disparaging to Indians. <clipped> Hardhead said the owners had already chosen a couple of names for future use. "We've got "The Sambos,' although we haven't quite decided on the mascot yet," he said. "The group has reviewed several portraits of a big-lipped black person with big eyes, but none of the drawings captures the happy-go-lucky attitude we want to communicate." Hardhead said that name probably would be given to a Southern team, since so many black Americans have roots in that region. "We want to celebrate their culture and heritage, the same way we do with the Indian team names," he explained. <end excerpt> ***************************************************************************** The second article covers a conference that just took place in North Dakota where efforts to change the University of North Dakota's "Fighting Sioux" nickname has been going on since 1972. http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=75680748 <clipped excerpt> Conference participants: Indian team names can be offensive BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) -- It' s difficult getting non-Indians to understand that sports team nicknames such as Redskins and Braves are offensive to many American Indians, participants at a conference said. University of North Dakota student Ira Taken Alive, a Lakota, said he has been trying to get his college to drop its nickname, the Fighting Sioux. He said he hopes his efforts will help people understand how Indians feel about it. At sporting events, UND opponents denigrate the mascot, Taken Alive said. " People say, ' Sioux suck." How do you not take that literally?" At the conference Tuesday, Indians, students, teachers and journalists discussed team nicknames and efforts to get teams to drop some of the names. <end excerpt> -- American Indian Sports Team Mascots http://www.geocities.com/~earnestman/1indexpage.htm "Little drops of rain wear away the greatest of stones." &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
