2001 Jeff Jacoby write a biased, closed-minded diatribe against the mascot movement - and indigenous civil rights.

Filed under: Rhetoric Rant 

Demeaning images? No so.

By Jeff Jacoby

The Boston Globe

2001, March 28 Indiana Gazette 

      It is no secret that the civil rights establishment has become a parody of what was once a courageous battle for racial dignity and fairness.
      There was a time when those who claimed to fight against prejudice confronted genuinely terrible injustice: segregated public schools, the bombing of black churches, willful flouting of the Fifteenth Amendment.
      Back then, civil rights leaders were figures of impressive moral authority who saved the charge of racism for bigots who deserved it: cross-burning in hoods, terrorists who attacked Freedom Riders, hates preaching white supremacy.
      No more. “Civil Rights” leaders today are typically shakedown artists like Jesse Jackson or racial inciters like Al Sharpton.
      The old struggle to cleanse the law of distinctions based on color has given way to demands for permanent racial preferences. And “racist” has become an all-purpose smear, suitable for every target: the supporter of welfare reform, the activist who criticizes slavery reparations, the official who calls a budget “niggardly.”
      Or the sports team named for American Indians.
      The US Commissions on Civil rights is scheduled to vote next month on a statement condemning athletic teams and mascots with Indian names.
      According to a draft, “the use of Native American images and team names may violate Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Department of Education’s implementing instructions, which prohibits (sic) discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
      If the statement is approved, professional teams like the Washington Redskins and the Chicago Blackhawks – to say nothing of Chief Wahoo, the Cleveland Indian’s emblem, and the “tomahawk chop” of Atlanta Braves fans – will be branded as “harmful stereotypes” and “racist images” that “provide an underpinning for discrimination against American Indian people.”
     For schools with Indian-themed athletics, the stakes would be even graver.
      If the University of Dakota refuses to rename its Fighting Sioux and Florida State keeps rooting for the Seminoles, they could face ruinous lawsuits and lose millions in federal funds.
      This is what “civil rights” has degenerated into.
      There is nothing original, of course, in the attack on teams with Indian names; the civil rights commission is jumping on a bandwagon that grows more crowded by the week.
      Last year the Census Bureau ordered that its promotional materials, which often spotlight athletes, not picture any team with an Indian name or symbol. The mayor of Cleveland has proposed stripping Chief Wahoo’s image from all city-owned property. A 1999 Harvard Law Review note recommended “aggressive” prosecution of Indian-named teams under Title II of the Civil Rights Act. The US Patent and Trademark Office even stripped the Washington Redskins of their trademark, citing a 1946 law banning the registration of “disparaging, scandalous, contemptuous, or disreputable” names.
      Does it really need to be pointed out how idiotic all this is? No athletic team chooses a name or a mascot in order to bring contempt or disrepute on itself.
      On the contrary. Team names – those that aren’t simply whimsical, like Red Sox or Mighty Ducks – are intended to evoke characteristics associated with winners: the strength of bears, the power of lions, the bravery of Vikings, the rugged tenacity of cowboys.
      Indian team names are in exactly the same category. “Sioux, Seminole, Indian, Redskin, or Brave – these are all approving expressions of a uniquely American vernacular,” observes the Washington Times in an editorial “a national shorthand for ‘bigger’ and ‘braver’ and ‘better.’ “
      Cleveland’s ballclub would never have changed its name to “Indians” in 1915 if “Indians” was an insult. Chief Wahoo is no more a racist icon than the Boston Celtics’ potbellied Irishman or the San Diego Pardres’ roly-poly, bat-swinging monk. Unlike a grinning, watermelon-munching Sambo – which would be intolerable as an emblem because it promotes an ignorant view of black people as jovial, juvenile simpletons – Wahoo, the Celtic, and the Padre are simply stylized caricatures, cheerful cartoon figures that demean nobody and reinforce no negative stereotype.
      If teams with Indian names portrayed their namesakes as savages or alcoholics, outrage would be the appropriate reaction. But they don’t. They depict Indians – and by extension themselves – as noble, courageous, and fierce. The Fighting Sioux is a title of honor – just like the Fighting Irish.
      Fortunately, not every member of the Civil Rights Commission is bereft of common sense – Abigail Thernstrom, a leading scholar of race in America, wants the commissioner’s draft to be replaced with something far more moderate and reasonable. Unfortunately, she appears – so far – to be a minority of one.

2001, March 28 Indiana Gazette