Ratttking
Well, he's 87, so if he has not been insulted yet I don't think it's going to happen. What was the "Sioux" debate? That sucks. Is it used as an insult by whites only or do Indians use it to insult each other too?
The Fighting Sioux debate; one of the top college teams and highly infamous due to their refusal to change their name and logo. They're not allowed to host a national tournament ever again until they officially do the change. Here's a picture of the mascot that's embedded, every ten feet, into one of the best hockey rinks/basketball halls in the state.
It's beautiful, but apparently it's offensive because it was drawn by someone from my tribe, Chippewa, and not a member of the Sioux, and I guess it looks more Chippewa than Sioux. Don't ask me how much profiling was involved in that decision. Just found the history of UND logos:
As you can see we've reverted back to the geometric design.
As for the name, I've found a pretty good explanation.
http://www.midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/history_heritage/american_indians/dakota_ojibwe.html
Ojibwe or Chippewa, Dakota or Sioux?
Here's what you need to know about the Upper Midwest's indigenous people.
A tourist dances at a Pipestone powwow.
© Beth Gauper
At powwows, especially traditional ones, visitors are welcome and often encouraged to join dancers in the sacred circle.
Wisconsin and Minnesota have two main tribes. The Ojibwe migrated from the east along the Great Lakes, pushed by newly arrived Europeans and other tribes.
With the help of guns acquired in the fur trade, they pushed the Dakota south and west in the 18th century and replaced them in the north woods.
The Dakota are thought to be descendants of the Woodland Indians who built effigy mounds in the Upper Midwest. Today, they live in small communities along the Minnesota and Mississippi river valleys and in South Dakota.
Nationally, the Ojibwe and Dakota are the third- and fourth-largest Indian nations.
Sometimes, tribal names cause confusion. The Ojibwe's name was shortened into Chippewa by French traders, and Chippewa still is the legal name of many bands, especially in Wisconsin.
The name Anishinabe, or "the original people," has spiritual meaning and is what one Ojibwe calls another.
The term Ojibwe is used most often when referring to tribal culture and tradition.
The term Dakota — also Lakota and Nakota, on the prairies farther west — is the tribe's own word for "allies." But historically, they have been known as the Sioux, a word thought to have come from the French-Canadian nadouessioux, derived from an Ottawa word for "little snakes."
Although the name Sioux was meant to be derogatory, it has become associated with courage and bravery over the years, and many Dakota, especially elders, still bear it proudly.
Many non-Indians think they should use the term "native American" when referring to the indigenous people of the United States, but many tribal members prefer "Indian" if an umbrella term must be used.
In Canada, the umbrella term is "aboriginal," and communities are called "first nations."
But since people in both countries consider themselves members of separate nations rather than a common race, it is best to use tribal affiliations, such as Dakota or Ojibwe, whenever possible.
The hate for this name is from the suggestion that the Metis (mixed races, usually of select Native tribes and French or Scottish descent) coined the term first, but I'm more ashamed knowing that my tribe egged on this battle. Our council wanted to build a casino in town, but the City didn't want a revenue like that, especially since most profits would go to the tribe. You know how addicting gambling is. Rumor has it they got pissed off and egged on the battle using the premise that "if we can't do what we want, then you can't play with our stuff," quite literally.
As for the redskin thing, that's a bit confusing to me, too. I grew up in sort of a white trashy neighborhood far from the reservation, and I and my sisters mostly look very white. I'm a freaking ginger, so naturally people aren't going to call us that unless we tell them. There was that one tardy kid who'd call me an apple because I wasn't as native as he was, apparently. At my grandparents' house there was a lot of yelling, but you swear once and you better hope there's not a belt or wooden spoon in the immediate area. I hadn't heard the term until I was 13-14 during a comedy sketch. Apparently some of us are trying to take the term back, like *****. I was telling my friend about the joke because I hadn't seen a professional Native comedian before and I wanted them to look for the guy, and I said that word... you would have thought I chopped off a kitten's head. His family stared at me for a full minute before someone explained it to me. They were pissed off at me, but not nearly as much as they were at my family for never explaining
that part of my heritage.
I've been called it just a couple times, and my father almost threw a guy out a window (not exaggerating) because he was a punk a** over privileged white kid who thought it was cool to refer to Native women as squaw in a time when it was being mislabeled as "v****a" instead of "woman" and is now recognized as a derogatory word simply because people took that mistaken definition and ran with it in every direction. Both the people insulted by it and those who intended to insult others with it. This dude clearly meant to insult when he was talking about how loose the girls from our reservation are, like he'd ever met them before...
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