[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 72 (Friday, June 10, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            WANT TO REALLY HONOR INDIANS? DROP THE NICKNAMES

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, one of the ways we continue to 
overtly show racism in our country is to continue to use American 
Indian nicknames for our athletic teams.
  I have offended a great many people in Illinois by being opposed to 
the use of Chief Illiniwek for the University of Illinois, and I'm 
pleased that gradually the movement is away from that stereotyping.
  To equate American Indians with animals, as we do when we use a term 
like the Washington Redskins along with the Los Angeles Rams and the 
Chicago Bears, is grossly insensitive.
  What reminded me of this again is an excellent column in the Chicago 
Tribune written by Barry Temkin, which deals with this subject.
  I ask that the Barry Temkin article be inserted into the Record at 
this point.
  The article follows:

                [From the Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1994]

            Want to Really Honor Indians? Drop the Nicknames

                           (By Barry Temkin)

       One of the more baffling aspects of American sport is how 
     strongly people defend their schools' use of Indian 
     nicknames.
       You would think schools would be lining up to dump names 
     that were born of stereotypes and that insult an entire 
     people, but suggest jettisoning them and educators, students 
     and alumni react as though you had advocated boarding up the 
     gym.
       So while some schools have changed their nicknames, 
     progress is slow. College and high school directories 
     (including Illinois') still feature plenty of Indians, 
     Redskins, Braves, Chiefs and Warriors, all of which keeps the 
     nickname debate in the news.
       Just in the last month, the University of Iowa Athletic 
     Board voted to ban from the school's athletic events mascots 
     depicting American Indians, and Wisconsin's superintendent of 
     public instruction asked more than 60 districts to consider 
     dropping Indian nicknames and mascots.
       John Teller watches all this activity with interest and 
     irritation. He is a Menominee Indian, a sophomore at 
     Menominee Indian High School in Keshena, Wis., about 40 miles 
     northwest of Green Bay.
       Teller plays on the school's basketball and baseball teams, 
     and he has competed against Chiefs and Indians. He has heard 
     the rationalizations used to justify those and other Indian 
     nicknames, and he doesn't buy any of them.
       The main justification white people give for using Indians 
     as mascots is that it somehow honors Native Americans. Teller 
     would like to decline the honor.
       ``White people, when they run around doing the tomahawk 
     chop and dressed up as a toy Indian, they think that brings 
     pride to Indians, but it doesn't,'' said Teller, whose 
     parents teach at his high school. ``I consider those acts 
     very demeaning to our ancestral culture.''
       Teller understands that most white people mean no 
     disrespect toward American Indians in their use of nicknames, 
     but he also understands that's not the point. Insults are as 
     much a matter of perception as intent. If Indians perceive 
     these nicknames as insulting, then they are.
       People who deny that ignore the fact that most of these 
     nicknames stem from a century-old stereotype of Indians as 
     warlike savages. It may be convenient for them to forget 
     history, but Indians don't have that luxury.
       Reminders, after all, are as close as Oct. 2, when the 
     Cowboys will battle the Redskins in the NFL.
       Teller says it's no coincidence that Indians and animals 
     provide so many of our athletic nicknames.
       ``It's not a problem when you make fun of a bird or an 
     animal,'' Teller said, ``but when you make fun of a proud 
     people, it dehumanizes them. You're putting Indians in the 
     same category as animals, and we're not animals.''
       White people, Teller says, believe they understand the 
     complexities of American Indian culture when they don't. 
     Menominee Indian high School's nickname, for example, is 
     Eagles, but the school's mascot is raccoon.
       ``The eagle is sacred to us,'' Teller said, ``so using one 
     as a mascot would be demeaning. In our culture, the raccoon 
     is a trickster, a joker. At our games, the raccoon mascot 
     does somersaults and spins and makes everyone laugh.''
       Lately, defenders of Indian nicknames have tried to 
     trivialize the debate by labeling their critics as advocates 
     of political correctness.
       The fight against these nicknames, however, predates the 
     so-called PC movement. It isn't just some knee-jerk reaction 
     to a minor item of propriety, but rather a response to a 
     remnant of a sad chapter in U.S. history.
       People become fiercely attached to their schools' nicknames 
     and are loath to give them up. Not wanting to lose their 
     athletic heritage, they unintentionally thumb their noses at 
     the Indians' heritage instead and continue our tradition of 
     believing we're doing Indians a favor when we're actually 
     doing anything but that.
       Defenders of Indian nicknames point out that not all Native 
     Americans mind them. Many, however, do, and when an honor-
     roll student such as John Teller admits it bothers him to 
     play against teams with Indian nicknames and to watch them on 
     TV, it's time for all you Indians and Redskins out there to 
     pay attention.
       Some of you say you get misty-eyed watching your schools' 
     mascots dance up and down the sidelines. In reality, it's a 
     crying shame.

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