2004 "We are human beings. We are not mascots."

After more than 80 years, Southeast Missouri State University will no longer use Indians as a nickname. Years of debate of the use of the nickname and mascot ended .. when the board of regents voted unanimously to drop both for the men's terms as well as the Otakkians for the women...  
      Supporters had argued that the nicknames showed pride in the American Indian heritage of the region. But others found them demeaning. 
      Glida Ladd Seabaugh, president of the American Indian Center of Heartland in Cape Girardeau, said she thought Southeast had not intended harm, but that hanging onto Indian names was a type of cultural racism.
      "We are human beings," she said. "We are not mascots." 
      After a brief phasing out of the Indians, Southeast's teams will be known as the Redhawks. ...
2004 July 1, The Hays Daily News 

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