Gamma Phi Beta University of North Dakota Punished for Showing School Pride

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Climates didn't necessarily change. We're talking about organized groups deeming things offensive. It's not as if all of the Sioux Tribes got together and had some sort of discussion and decided they all should condemn this name. Nope. Just a few "concerned citizens" and years and years of tradition are out the window.

You are aware that there are Lakota, Dakota and Yanktoni Sioux in ND who have weighed in on this, aren't you? If the Standing Rock Sioux tribal council approved the use of the UND Sioux mascot, the NCAA would have granted UND a waiver. They didn't. Clearly the Standing Rock Sioux don't like it.

When a group of people say "We don't like the way you are using our name" then the polite thing to do is to stop.

The voters of ND agree. UND's mascot was subject to a ballot initiative. The voters of North Dakota voted it out. It wasn't a few concerned citizens. It was a majority (67%) of voters.

I don't like the way Notre Dame uses the Fighting Irish, but it's not really the same. Irish Americans don't have the poverty rates and general dispossession that Native Americans have faced. Irish Americans are currently integrated as fully white and enjoy the privileges that go with being white in America. Meanwhile, Pine Ridge is the poorest place in the US. It's just not the same.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by KDCat

I don't like the way Notre Dame uses the Fighting Irish, but it's not really the same. Irish Americans don't have the poverty rates and general dispossession that Native Americans have faced. It's just not the same.

Like MC said, the Irish themselves created that as a big F.U. to everyone. THAT'S why it's ok. It's not ok because the Irish were less oppressed. I'm sure there are still Irish people who even knowing that don't like it.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Like MC said, the Irish themselves created that as a big F.U. to everyone. THAT'S why it's ok.

Right. It's one thing if schools and student bodies choose a nickname and mascot that reflects their own heritage—say, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame; the Fighting Scots of Edinboro U, Monmouth College or the College of Wooster; or the Terrible Swedes of Bethany College. It's another thing when they appropriate someone else's heritage—especially when they've already appropriated just about everything else once belonging to that particular someone else.

[bevinpiphi]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Like MC said, the Irish themselves created that as a big F.U. to everyone. THAT'S why it's ok. It's not ok because the Irish were less oppressed. I'm sure there are still Irish people who even knowing that don't like it.

Count my Irish Catholic relatives among those...they hate the mascot.