Chief Among Our Concerns

teh
I've been wanting to weigh in on the Chief Illiniwek controversy for some time but never got to it because, well, in the scheme of things it's kind of trivial (unlike most of my studied posts). I'm kind of put off by the zeal on both sides for the rightness of their cause. However, I find the pro-Chief forces far more disturbing.

I know people who couldn't care less about anything to do with the University of Illinois getting all up in arms about attempts to do away with the Chief. And they care very disproportionately to the size of the problem. It's really irrational.

U of I fans and alumni have more of stake in it but the best defense they have, as near as I can tell, is the Chief is tradition. They are used to him, like him and want to keep him, dammit. Sorry, but the "Chief is upholding the honor and traditions of the Native American people" line is just crap. These same people don't care a bit about real living Native Americans and their plight.

No, a lot of supporters, those with no real vested interest in the U of I, are in this fight because they see this as being on the front line in the war against their bitter enemy, "Political Correctness". (By the way, in a related matter, calling them Native Americans is not "politically" correct, it's just plain correct. These people did not come from India, they are natives of the Americas. )

Eric Zorn today confronts the issue the in way I can go along with:

To me, [the Chief] trivializes and demeans indigenous peoples in a way we would never dare trivialize, say, African Americans, Jews or other groups that have historically felt the hard heel of discrimination. The white people may mean well when they name a team the Redskins or dress up in ersatz ceremonial Indian garb and dance around the basketball floor, but meaning well is not enough.

Chief Illiniwek, the hotly disputed symbol of the University of Illinois, is in the news again now that the Illinois Native American Bar Association has sued the University of Illinois Board of Trustees in Cook County Circuit Court seeking a court order barring "the use of Chief Illiniwek as a sports mascot" because it violates the Illinois Civil Rights Act.

Hold it right there! There's an Illinois Native American Bar Association? Really?

Anyway, Eric continues later with:

My opposition to Illiniwek is based on the presumption that the view of the activist opponents reflects the views of the majority American Indians, who ought to have the only vote in this matter.

If Chief Illiniwek is OK with that majority, my objection is little more than paternalism and the activists are just touchy rabble rousers. Let the chief stay.

But if Chief Illiniwek offends that majority, support for that symbol is little more than racism and its backers are churls. The chief must go.

It sounds like a reasonable compromise. At least reasonable enough to make the issue go away finally.

Eric goes on to cite a couple of nationwide polls that show Native Americans don't seem to care that much about the issue and don't generally feel offended by teams with Native Americans as mascots. So, Eric says we should only consider the feelings of Illinois Native Americans when deciding the fate of the Chief (he even is conducting an online poll on the idea).

For my part, if I was King of the World I would banish the Chief because I think it's demeaning to another group of human beings even if a majority of that group doesn't think so. I know that may sound arrogant but its just my gut feeling on this. Of course, much to my disappointment, I'm not King of the World, and that means I have to get along with people I don't agree with. So maybe Eric's compromise is the way to go.

Let's just be done with this and move on. Healthcare anybody?