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U.I. Dialogue narratives |
RetireTheChief
The following is the transcript of a Foellinger balcony narrative from April 14, 2000. It is an unedited excerpt from the original Chief dialogue document.
MS. YVONNE MURRY: My name is Yvonne Murry and this is my daughter, Diana Stimpel. And she is a student here at the University of Illinois. She's of Native American descent as I am. And she is just starting her second year. I am a public interest attorney. I operate in the area of housing law in the city of Chicago but I am here today as a Native American and as a parent of a student here at the University of Illinois to say that, number one, that my gratitude to this school for providing such a wonderful educational opportunity for my daughter. This has been one of the finest educational opportunities that she's had in her life, her short life.Number two, I would like to say I understand and have talked to a number of University of Illinois alumni and understand their concern and their loyalty to the school and can appreciate how that has gotten tied up with the Chief Illiniwek as a symbol of the school pride.
And I am sure there is a great deal of confusion as to why the Chief elicits such a strong response from Indian people. Quite frankly to me, it's the idea of the Chief sometimes is a little bit like nails on the chalk board. And I suppose it would be helpful if I told you why.
Number one, the Chief Illiniwek here at the University of Illinois is a young man. And generally Native American chiefs are mature Indians, mature men or women. So there is really sort of this picture doesn't quite fit in terms of his role or his station in Indian culture.
Also, the Chief is dressed in traditional Indian attire. Individuals that are dressed in traditional Indian attire walk slowly, dance slowly with dignity, measured steps. And from what I have seen of Chief Illiniwek, his performances at half-time, it's a little bit frantic, at times I thought it was a little bit like Richard Simmons on too much espresso.
Number two is that Native American dance is spiritual in nature and when Indians dance, what they are doing essentially is offering their prayers to God or to the spirits around us. And I don't think that is the spirit or the intent of Chief Illiniwek. It's more in the spirit of school spirit. And team spirit.
Also too, I don't think that this school would allow images of African Americans such as we wouldn't have black Sambo dancing at half-time. We wouldn't have a Mexican in a serape and a sombrero dancing at half-time. All of these old stereotypical images, most folks, educated folks would think twice about presenting these images. So it's difficult to come to terms with the idea of a Native American image taken so much out of context and allow that to be one of the symbols of this great school. Racism, stereotypes perpetuate racism.
And as we know here at the University of Illinois, racism hurts, cripples and kills people. And so I think it would be important to put an end to this misunderstanding of this imagery and find another symbol, one that is less offensive to a great number of people. Thank you.
See the U.I. Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek page for more transcripts and information.