1995 - Let me reiterate what I have been saying for 15 years. The use of American Indians as mascots is as insulting as if those enlightened collegians use a Black Sambo as a mascot.

Indian mascot bill sanctions bigotry

By Tim Giago

1995 May 10, Argus Leader 

      Representative Rick Winkel of the Illinois House of Representatives decided to protect the mascot of the University of Illinois, Chief Illiniwek, by introducing a bill to make the “Chief” an “honored symbol” of the university. 

      After a heated debate the House voted 80-26 in favor of the bill. “We need to settle this issue so the sentiment of the majority alumni and supports of the U of I cannot be silenced,” said Rep Winkel, a Champaign, Ill Republican. 

      Rep Winkel got the idea to sponsor the bill last year after a campus planning committee recommended that the University of Illinois phase our Chief Illiniwek because the mascot was offensive to American Indians.

      Charlene Teeters, an American Indian now employed by the Institute of American Indian Art at Santa Fe, NM, fought the mascot issue during the time she was a graduate student at the University of Illinois.

      She often talked about the hate, the anger and the animosity directed toward herself and other Indians and whites who spoke out against using as a mascot this affront to all American Indians. Sen Paul Simon, S-Ill, supported the efforts of those opposed to the continued use of Indians as mascots and was soundly criticized by many of his fellow alumni.

      I have received calls from others at the University of Illinois who speak to me as frightened sources, who do not want to reveal their identities. I wonder what in the heck is happening in America when those opposed to a racial symbol are afraid for their very safety.

      Let me reiterate what I have been saying for 15 years. The use of American Indians as mascots is as insulting as if those enlightened collegians use a Black Sambo as a mascot.

      Here’s an article that appeared in the News-Gazette of Springfield, Ill, and the words “Black Sambo” or “Sambo” are substituted every place Illinwek would have appeared. It is not intended to insult African-Americans but to point out how using human beings as mascots can hurt. See if this pinches any toes:

“A former Black Sambo who now works for Gov Jim Edgar, defended the 79-year old “tradition” which grew out of a Boy Scout project by a U.I. student interested in African American culture.

     “Tom Livingston, Edgar’s chief aide on high education issues, said, Black Sambo is an educational tool that helps bridge the cultural gap between white Americans and African-Americans. 

     “Back in the 1950s, when popular culture portrayed African-Americans as cotton-toting blacks on the warpath, we were out there presenting a positive image,” said Livingston.

     “When Sambo comes out on the football field, it’s designed to send a chill through the 60,000 people in the stands, he said. For me, it was as if I jumped off a cliff, sprouted wings and flew into a thundercloud.

      “I support Black Sambo if that’s the university’s wish, said Rep Larry Woolard, D-Carterville. “But this is the kind of issue that should be left to the people at the campus.

     Rep Coy Pugh, a Chicago Democrat, was more strident in his criticism. Echoing the arguments of the anti-Sambo activists, he said the symbol is racist.

      “You are taking a class of people and turning them into a symbol, a time-honored tradition that makes them less than human, Pugh said.

      “Following a series of complaints about Black Sambo in the early 1990s, UI officials limited Sambo’s appearances to half-time shows at home football and basketball games.

      “The university also altered languages in a two-page handout on the ‘Black Sambo Traditions’ deleting words such as nigger and descriptions of the dance steps as genuine and authentic.” 

      In the above paragraph I substituted the word “nigger” for “redskin” because to most American Indians the meaning is the same. It is an insulting word that places people by the supposed color of their skin into a mascot situation. You’ve never heard of a team with a mascot such as “Blackskin,” “Yellowskin,” or “Brownskin.”

      Only one mascot is identifiable as an American Indian by the color of its skin.

      Racist is racist.

      Go back and read this column and see how my using another minority, the African-American, in place of the American Indian, the mean spirit and the racism becomes obvious.

      No race of humans should be used as mascots when they find it to be insulting and degrading – no matter what the Illinois legislators believe.

      Bigotry is bigotry whether state sanctioned or not. 

1995 May 10, Argus Leader 

• Tim Giago said that Native Americans shouldn’t be expected to approve insensitivity or to accept claims of no harm intended or engendered.
  
• “I’m so proud of you because you took on a tradition,” said Giago to the Shawnee students. “You did it maturely and intelligently, and with a lot of sensitivity.” 

1995 June 5, The Ithaca Journal