In Colorado, FIghtin' Whities Play hardball
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http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/074/nation/In_Colo_Fightin_Whities_play_
hardball+.shtml
Basketball team picks unusual nickname in protest of Indian mascots
By Chryss Cada, Globe Correspondent, 3/15/2002
GREELEY, Colo. - Besides handling all the media attention, the biggest
challenge facing the Fightin' Whities is coming up with a battle cry.
''It's interesting to sit around and think, what noise does a white
person make?'' said Solomon Little Owl, a member of the Fightin' Whities
intramural basketball team at the University of Northern Colorado.
''When you say that about a white person, you realize how ridiculous the
whole idea of having people as mascots is. This is our way of making
that point.''
Little Owl, director of Native American Student Services at the
university, suggested adopting the mascot to draw attention to the use
of American Indians as mascots for sports teams.
All 10 team members - three Native Americans, two Hispanics, and five
Anglos - supported the move.
''I grew up in the Indian world, learning the traditions, learning what
an eagle feather means,'' said Charles Cuny, the Lakota Indian who
organized the team. ''And then I turn on a [Florida State University]
game on a Saturday and see a blue-eyed boy dressed up in eagle feathers
throwing down a spear and dancing around like a fool.''
Cuny said that he, and most other young Indians, are more interested in
larger issues, such as health care and land rights, but that taking on
offensive mascots is a good starting point to bring awareness to more
substantial issues.
The use of American Indians as sports mascots has been an issue for at
least three decades. It was in 1968 that the National Congress of
American Indians launched a campaign to address stereotypes in the
media. The National Congress has approached the Cleveland Indians and
the Washington Redskins.
''Officially, the NCAI can't really sanction what they're doing, but
it's definitely a new and unique approach,'' said Adam Bailey, the
legislative associate who handles the mascot issue for the Indian
Congress. ''They've certainly opened the eyes of a lot of Americans.''
About 1,200 school teams have changed their mascots in the last 38
years, said Dan Ninham, founder of Coloradans Against Ethnic Stereotypes
in Colorado Schools. ''We've still got about 600 who haven't.''
Ninham, a graduate student at UNC, launched a campaign at the start of
the year to change the mascot at nearby Eaton High School. The school's
teams are called the Reds, and the logo is of a big-nosed American
Indian.
His coalition got a boost when the UNC intramural team, officially
named ''Native Pride,'' adopted the ''Whites'' mascot to draw attention
to the issue. The coalition provided the team with T-shirts with a
cartoon mascot of a white male with slicked-back hair and wearing a tie
and dark coat.
The T-shirts are imprinted with ''Every thang's going to be all
white!'' on the front and ''The Fighting Whites '' on the back. The
nickname has since evolved to the catchier ''Fightin' Whities.''
''We've tried to open a dialogue for over two months with the [Eaton]
School District,'' Ninham said. ''But to them, we're invisible. Maybe
this will get their attention.''
At the University of Northern Colorado <A HREF="http://www.unco.edu/">
campus in Greeley, where grain towers serve as the skyline, only 76 of
the 11,000 students on campus are officially identified as American
Indian.
But UNC's small American Indian population is making a big impact with
the Fightin' Whities. Hundreds of e-mails and voice messages have poured
into Little Owl's office since the local paper did a story on the team.
A march by those supporting a name change for the Reds is being
organized for late April.
Marchers shouldn't expect a warm welcome in the community of 1,900.
Among the farmers gathered at Eaton's North Bean and Seed, the
consensus is that the high school's mascot shouldn't be of concern to
anyone outside the town limits.
''I've lived here all my life, and that Indian is a part of Eaton,''
said one resident who asked not to be identified. ''Some yahoos from out
of town want to come in and take that away.''
At the high school, where about 80 percent of the 416 students are
Anglo, the sentiment is the same.
''You'd think they'd [American Indians] would be honored to have some
kids wanting to fight in their name,'' said sophomore Mallory Bailey.
''It's not something were putting down. In fact, we're very proud of
it.''
Bill Mondt, Eaton High's assistant principal, said there has been no
discussion on changing the mascot.
''Our students and our community stand behind using the Reds,'' he
said, ''and that tradition and support is what matters.''
Fightin Whitie Ryan White disagrees.
''They talk about tradition that goes back, what, 70 years?'' he said.
''Well, we've got our own traditions, and they go back, well, forever.''
This story ran on page A2 of the Boston Globe on 3/15/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
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