Last dance of the Chief

So, having never gone to the University of Illinois, and having no particular affection for their sports teams (aside from the orange color they sport), it may seem strange that I'm writing about what happened at the Illinois basketball game last night.


Last night was the last time Chief Illiniwek, the unofficial mascot of Illinois, did his traditional dance at halftime of a sporting event. He's being retired to comply with the NCAA standard that no school can have names or mascots pertaining to Native Americans. However, they will be allowed to continue calling themselves the "Fighting Illini" because it refers to the fighting spirit of the institution and Illini is short for Illinois.

This is the whole problem with banning things based on their perceived offensiveness. What's offensive? Who is it offensive to? I understand banning the names Savages, Redmen, Indians, etc. because they tend to have universal negative connotation (with the exception of Indians. It's not offensive - except for the fact that they're not Indian at all) But banning teams with names of actual tribes? Names like Seminoles, Utes, Illini, Sioux, etc. I don't see anything offensive about this at all. If anything, I see it as a tribute to the triumphant spirit of these people. Not that they are bloodthirsty killers, but that they are a unified group of people with a common cause that refuse to simply fold when another group of people tried to take their home turf. Isn't this what sports personify? You don't want your rivals walking into your gym, arena, stadium, etc. and walking all over you, do you? You want your team to compete and hustle and not give up until the final buzzer sounds. You're not cheering for your team to pull out knives and jump the other team from behind and kill them.

Furthermore, why are names pertaining to Native Americans offensive, but names like Fighting Irish, Spartans, Trojans, etc. OK? Notre Dame has a man in a ridiculous leprechaun costume dancing around like a fool, and nobody finds this offensive? Because he's white? I don't get it.

Furthermore, having Native American mascots and team names keeps these cultures current in the minds of people. If not for Florida State, would anyone know who the Seminole tribe were or where they lived? Would we know that they rode horses? If not for Chief Illiniwek doing his dance at halftimes, would these traditional dances be known to anyone not of Illini descent? Would we know anything about Native Americans at all, other than that white people rounded them up and shipped them off to Oklahoma because it was so crappy they didn't want to live there themselves?

We prohibit people from discriminating against people for their race or sex, yet companies are encouraged to hire blacks and women. What's the difference between choosing someone because they're white and choosing someone because they're not white? I don't get it.

And I don't understand for a second what's offensive about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhKxKPUbs_E