Thoughts from the Mid-West #3

October 31st, 2002 | by aobaoill |

When they tell you it gets cold in Illinois, believe them.
When I got here – almost 10 weeks ago now – one of the things that struck me was that coming out of a building at night, it was warmer outside than it had been in the air-conditioned interior. My Puerto Rican classmate, who found it intriguing that I found this intriguing, is no longer laughing. As she told me recently, she is now encountering, for the first time in her life, the experience of it being substantially colder outdoors than in. And its due to get colder….
Before it got cold, however, I followed advice and ‘took in a football game’. Now, it will surprise few to learn that I’ve never been to a professional soccer game, and that the last rugby game I saw live was the Jes versus the Bish in the city cup in the early 90s.
In light of this admitted deprivation, I may be easy to impress. However, I don’t think that’s the only reason I was awed at the spectacle. Because that’s what it is – a wonderfully complex spectacle, designed to keep you entertained at all times: short, fast plays, constant statistics from the commentators, and cheerleaders and marching bands for the intervals.
There’s just one pimple in the ointment.
The University of Illinois has a mascot. Chief Illiniwek makes appearances at sports games, and is one of the last ‘Indian’ mascots in American sport.
Before I went to this game, I’d heard of the controversy surrounding ‘the Chief’, and had come to the general conclusion that if native Americans were offended by the mascot, it should be abolished. If I had been asked, however, why ‘the Chief’ might be seen as offensive, however, I would have been fairly vague. The standard complaint is that the performance is a pastiche of various native cultures, performed by a ‘white frat boy from the suburbs’, and is demeaning to native peoples, rather than being the expression of respect claimed by supporters.
When the Chief appeared to dance at half-time, I knew generally what to expect. Loyal fans stand with their arms held folded in front of them, in ‘homage’ to the Chief, while he performs a dance on the pitch. As the several hundred members of the Marching Illini parted to free a large circular area in the middle of the pitch, I began to understand the severe distress caused to native Americans by the performance.
First, the ostensibly traditional dance seems to owe a lot to ‘Fame’ and ‘Flash Dance’, but cultural evolution is understandable. Far worse, the choreography seems designed to create a representation of a captured, and defeated, creature trying, in vain, to escape from the surrounding (mainly white) band members. Instead of ‘honouring’ native Americans, the very performance continually reminds one of the genocide committed, by European settlers, against the native peoples.
I felt nauseous – a severe embarrassment at being a party, as a viewer, to this offensive performance. I’m writing these words a few weeks after the event, in the cold light of day as it were – definitely colder anyhow – and I can still vividly remember my feeling of revulsion. I had some preconceptions going to the match, I admit, but I had in no way expected the dance to appear so obviously insulting, or to feel such personal pain.
I mentioned the controversy surrounding the ‘Chief’ briefly in my last mail, before I had seen the game. As I wrote then, the Chief’s future lies in the hands of the university board of trustees. While the board continues to stall on the issue – reputedly out of fear that donors would sever connections should the mascot be changed – I hope someday to be able to send a “Thoughts…” reporting that my university no longer has a racist, offensive mascot.
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There’s a range of websites devoted to the issue of Chief Illiniwek. Among the most useful are:

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