I Will Deny You
27th March 2002, 21:15
If only my college's team was this exciting!
The mostly-Native American basketball team of the University of Northern Colorado has named themselves The Fighting Whites, to poke fun at Indian stereotypes in sports. Their slogan is "Every thang's gonna be all white," and as if that's not funny enough, this is their mascot:
http://www.cafepress.com/fightinwhite/img/man.gif
I personally think that it's disgusting that professional sports teams make money off of degrading images of Native Americans and mock their rituals. This is hilarious . . . Abbie Hoffman, one of my heroes, would be very proud. From their official website (http://www.fightingwhites.org/) (that has links to articles about them and merchandise, from which the profits go to scholarships for Native Americans):
Our mission statement is as follows for the Fighting Whites:
The Fighting Whites basketball team was organized in early February (2002) by a group of Native American and non-Indian students of the University of Northern Colorado with the intent of playing intramural basketball. We came up with the "Fighting Whites" logo and slogan to have a little satirical fun and to deliver a simple, sincere, message about ethnic stereotyping. Since March 6, when our campus newspaper first reported on the "Fighting Whites", we have been launched into the national spotlight, propelled by a national debate over stereotyping American Indians in sports symbolism.
Our objective as students was to make a straightforward statement using humor; to promote cultural awareness through satire. Now that national attention has come to us, we hope that our message will reach a wider audience. As a part of our involvement in this ongoing issue, we have formed the Fighting Whites Scholarship Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization, the profits of which will go entirely to support the education of Native American students.Go Whites!
The mostly-Native American basketball team of the University of Northern Colorado has named themselves The Fighting Whites, to poke fun at Indian stereotypes in sports. Their slogan is "Every thang's gonna be all white," and as if that's not funny enough, this is their mascot:
http://www.cafepress.com/fightinwhite/img/man.gif
I personally think that it's disgusting that professional sports teams make money off of degrading images of Native Americans and mock their rituals. This is hilarious . . . Abbie Hoffman, one of my heroes, would be very proud. From their official website (http://www.fightingwhites.org/) (that has links to articles about them and merchandise, from which the profits go to scholarships for Native Americans):
Our mission statement is as follows for the Fighting Whites:
The Fighting Whites basketball team was organized in early February (2002) by a group of Native American and non-Indian students of the University of Northern Colorado with the intent of playing intramural basketball. We came up with the "Fighting Whites" logo and slogan to have a little satirical fun and to deliver a simple, sincere, message about ethnic stereotyping. Since March 6, when our campus newspaper first reported on the "Fighting Whites", we have been launched into the national spotlight, propelled by a national debate over stereotyping American Indians in sports symbolism.
Our objective as students was to make a straightforward statement using humor; to promote cultural awareness through satire. Now that national attention has come to us, we hope that our message will reach a wider audience. As a part of our involvement in this ongoing issue, we have formed the Fighting Whites Scholarship Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization, the profits of which will go entirely to support the education of Native American students.Go Whites!