The fall semester is synonymous with college football. Many college and professional sport teams in the past used Native Americans as mascots. In late August 2017, the University of Illinois revealed that “war chant” will no longer be played during any school events, because it was a divisive reminder of the school’s former mascot Chief Illiniwek.
University Retires Native American “War Chant” From All Events
Penn Collins, Good Sports, August 29, 2017
The University of Illinois war chant, a divisive reminder of the school’s former mascot Chief Illiniwek, will no longer be played during any school events, per the school’s athletic department. While attention has been turned to such previously tolerated relics of racism and insensitivity after the Charlottesville violence, the school has stated that the decision to do away with the tradition was finalized at the end of the last football season, but is only now being made public.
Speaking to ESPN, Illinois athletic department spokesperson Kent Brown revealed the decision received public attention only last Thursday when a department employee asked the student spirit group Illini Pride to stop playing it on drums during a soccer game. The school band and other official groups had received notice they were to cease playing the song last year.
“There are people who felt that was an offensive Native American chant or music,” said Brown. “Another big part of that was that we had used it on third-down situations and out fan reaction to that was not as good as when we used our video board to prompt our fans.”
In 2005, the school faced NCAA sanctions for its continued representation of Chief Illiniwek, a Native American caricature portrayed by students in war paint at sporting events. The school did away with the character in 2007, but the war chant remained a fixture at sporting events, evocative of the insensitive representation.
Discuss:
What do you think? Was is appropriate for Native American societies to ask the NCAA and professional sports teams to end the use of their persons as mascots? Or, were they too sensitive? What do you think about the Florida State exception?
(I know; this is the spring semester. I have not found a better vehicle to discuss Native American identity. If you want, just pretend this is September.)
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For this discussion, you will not be able to see the responses of your colleagues until after you post your initial response. After posting, please read through the postings of your colleagues, responding to at least two.
The discussion is worth 5 points. Please review the rubric I have developed to ensure that you are meeting my expectations.
After completing this discussion, you will have addressed the following learning outcomes:
discuss differing attitudes about Native American identity