The following transcript is from the 4/14/00 Chief Illiniwek dialogue "intake session". It is an unedited excerpt from the original U.I. document.

She begins the book by talking about the systematic annihilation of Native peoples in California in the years right after the California gold rush and after the Civil War. This passage is from a chapter called Episodes in Extermination. "In 1853 occurred one of the first of the mass murders of the Yahi. This one under France's leadership. It was triggered by the stealing of one of several cows. Federal men gave chase and before they were through, 25 or more Indians were dead, some shot, some hanged. A second party led by Chance Tater the same year went out in response to an alleged rape along the north fork of the Feather River. They netted 50 or 60 scalps this trip.

"By 1859, the white settlers were not relying on reservations or military assistance. From their own number, they collected $3,000 as a beginning fund to be used to fight the Mill Creeks."

These accounts go on and I don't want to use all of my time reading them. Some of them are first person, all of them are entered into official state records. In other words, these records of Indian massacres were turned in to the military and to the civil government as official public records.

As an example of one of the final descriptions -- I will skip that one. Let me just finish by saying, once a dominant society employing its legitimate government, attempts to exterminate a minority people and its culture, nothing is the same again. The wounds caused by acts this horrible on a scale this huge lasts for generations.

It is the work of millions of descendents of both exterminators and survivors to move towards healing themselves and each other.

One of the things that will never be okay is for the descendents of the exterminators to appropriate, flaunt and use the image of the victimized people. If a public university in Germany were to adopt a respectful image of a traditional Jew, the situation would be similar to the one we discuss today.

No amount of protestation that the revered symbol's prayer shawl was made by real Jewish weavers or that a rabbi taught the performer how to wear his forelocks, would make such a symbol appropriate. The horrible fact that the German state methodically worked to exterminate the Jewish people renders this scenario outrageous for all time.

As a mother, a teacher, a community member, a U of I staff member and alum, and as a human being, I demand that you immediately discontinue the use of Chief Illiniwek. And I ask that you take every opportunity to explain why you have discontinued the Chief, what happened when Euro-American culture met Native American culture must never happen again. That means that we collectively must never forget.

This is a teaching opportunity of great magnitude. I demand that the University of Illinois rise to this task and teach peace, compassion, humility and the value of diversity. It is the best hope for the human race. Thank you.

See the U.I. Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek page for more transcripts and information.