G.E.B., Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2004

Opinion on Chief: very anti-chief

I was originally just going to browse through the letters and not comment on this issue, but from reading the pro-Chief letters, I find that they seem to have run out of effective arguments and have resorted to personal attacks on the anti-Chief people. In particular, JD from Chicago claims that people who are anti-Chief have no life. Well, I am very strongly anti-Chief and I have a wonderful life, so it would be a mistake to lump everyone into the same category.

Also, let me state, that I am a big Illinois sports fan. I watched almost every basketball game either in person or on TV this year, and was very upset at their loss to Duke this year. However, I am able to separate the sports team from the mascot that supposedly honors the Native American culture in Illinois. As a white male, I am in not position to say what honors any other culture accept my own. The fact is that there are a significant number of Native Americans who are offended by the use of this symbol as a mascot, and that should be the end of discussion. It matters not that a majority of Illinois students and alumni want to keep the chief; majority rule is not the end of democracy. A majority of southerners were in favor of Jim Crow laws at the beginning of this century; does that make Jim Crow laws right? I don't think so.

There is so much more I could say on this issue, and there is nothing anyone can say to change my opinion; I am usually an open-minded person, but on this issue, I know I am right. Retire the chief so we can more on to other equally important issues and stop dividing the campus by keeping this racist symbol around.

G.E.B., via the web