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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. SHERRY NAANES: My name is Sherry Naanes. I have lived in Champaign-Urbana for 39 years. And have worked at the U of I for nine years. I have experienced the negative impact of Chief Illiniwek firsthand. I work in building services and as a steward, I have represented an employee accused of intimidation. The employee was charged with harassing fellow employees about wearing their Chief Illiniwek shirts, jackets and et cetera. After meeting with management, it came out that the Chief supporters had been verbally goading the accused employee. The employee is native and is against the Chief.And I have also had personal experiences with harassment by fellow workers for my stance against the Chief. And have learned my job is easier to deal with if I just keep quiet.
I am a janitor for the resident halls and work among many students who support the Chief. I have never spoke a word to any student about the Chief, but I used to play native music while I worked. But it only brought me trouble.
This past year, since September of '99, I have ceased to play my native music and it has been one of the most peaceful years I have had since 1990. No more constant vandalism on my run. I find it interesting that they honor and embrace native people, but I can no longer enjoy my music for I know of its retaliation towards me.
Another point I would like to bring up is I have been to a lot of the protests at Memorial Stadium and I will tell you what I saw the first time I went. I saw drunken Illini fans yelling go back where you came from, get a life, get a job. I think the thing that really got me was the people who were most abusive were elderly people wearing chief apparel from head to toe, yelling profanity, spitting at us, shoving and pushing young women and they threw a glass bottle at me.
The police had to step in several times and remove these people. And they call this honor and respect towards native people. Actually, a lot of the younger fans were wearing the new U of I logo apparel. And we thank them for not wearing the Chief. The University always says their mascot is honorable, not like the caricature chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians. I went to a protest at the Cleveland opener game last year. Cleveland is a big city and after protesting at the U of I, I admit I was a little concerned it might get out of hand. But the fans at Cleveland were peaceful, no yelling or profanity.
And this last October at the homecoming game, we invited some Cleveland people to march with us, I will never forget later that afternoon sitting around talking about the day's events and hearing the people from Cleveland commenting on how abusive the fans were here at the U of I. They were shocked by this.
I thank you for hearing us today and pray you are really listening this time. Thank you.
See the U.I. Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek page for more transcripts and information.