The article "Defending Race Privilege on the Internet: How Whiteness uses Innocence Discourse Online" brought up an interesting story about sports teams using Native American names. Kenjere says "A research team lead by Jesse A. Steinfeldt collected comments on articles questioning the University of North Dakota's use of the Fighting Sioux logo and nickname for their athletic teams in the face of opposition from Native American leaders and students' associations". This is such a great example of how white people claim innocence in these situations where their beloved teams represent something that isn't ours to claim.
Actually, most of my extended family lives up in Grand Forks and are die-hard "Sioux" fans. Therefore I know from personal experience that white innocence is totally at play. Essentially no one who is a fan of UND sports cheer for the "Fighting Hawks", their new name. Even at away games, their fans still manage to start the "Sioux yeah yeah" chant. Their hockey arena still has the Sioux head on the back of every single chair there. This study shows that the tribe does discourage the University's use of their name, but according to my white family, there is absolutely no problem. It's difficult because "Sioux" is such a beloved, prideful name to fans, therefore the argument is that they are almost honoring and respecting the tribe because of the positive representation and comradery associated with it. But at the end of the day, as good as the University has used the "Sioux" name, it's not ours to use.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteIn the article “Defending Race Privilege on the Internet: How Whiteness uses Innocence Discourse Online” I also found the part where the author talks about sports teams and their problematic names and logos interesting. I think you bring up a really interesting point about how white people claim innocence in an attempt to try and avoid change and keep their power. There are so many other sports teams, bands, and companies that have changed their names or logos and then received backlash from white people who claim there is nothing wrong with them. A couple of examples that I can think of are Washington Football team, the band The Chicks, the band Lady A, and the breakfast products of Pearl Milling Company.
Hi Lauren! You made some really compelling points throughout this post. Certain people being upset by the Sioux name change is a perfect example of claimed white innocence. I agree with you, it is unfair for white people to disagree with the discouragement of using a tribal name when it does not belong to them. Another example of this is from both of our internships this summer. As you know, I worked on the Indian motorcycle team at Polaris, where I was introduced to a ton of controversy behind the use of the name "Indian Motorcycle" as well as logo utilizing a traditional headdress image. I was automatically confused as to why the brand still uses both the logo and image for their motorcycles, but was shut down by arguments of "tradition" and "history". Indian Motorcycle is known as America's first motorcycle company, therefore may people are tied to the historical/ traditional feel of the name. However, specific bike names such as "Chieftain" and "Indian Challenger", in addition to headdress logos offend others. This conversation has arguments on both sides, but ultimately should not be up to white individuals to come up with a solution.
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