Oh. Dear.
Fighting Whites inspire imitators -- The Washington Times: ..... The pride of the University of Northern Colorado, the Whites won only two games in their intramural basketball league last year, but their idea of turning the tables on schools with American Indian mascot names has spread like wildfire. Students at a handful of colleges across the rural West and Indian country are considering forming their own Fighting Whites-style intramural teams this season, inspired by the success of the team, first planned as "the Fightin' Whities," in drawing national media attention to the mascot issue. [....] Inspired by the Whites, North Dakota students created a stir in October with an art exhibit at the university's International Center. The show displayed dozens of jerseys from hockey, football and other sports, some real and some with mock names such as the "North American Stealers," "Wounded Knee Crusaders" and "Cleveland Honkies." A few were more incendiary, such as one showing a hooded Klansman under the name "Atlanta White Devils" and the "Vatican City Popes 'n' Pedophiles." [...] The Whites concede that some T-shirt buyers missed the point and saw them as a statement of white pride. Likewise, when a conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com, ran a story about the North Dakota art exhibit, it was flooded with responses from readers asking where to buy the jerseys.
I wondered how long it would take before the original concept of the Fighting Whites got buried by people who missed the point.
The problem is that it was never a particularly good way to make the point they wanted to make. "Whites" is not generally used as a particularly derogatory term in the way that, for example, "Redskins" is normally considered to be. (Except, for some curious reason, in the case of the Washington Redskins, which somehow manages to draw a giant shrug from a great many Native Americans. Heaven only knows why, when collegiate and high school team names draw such fire. Perhaps because the Redskins organization is comparatively impervious to any such pressure. And the name is one of those that's been declared "historic" and site-specific by the NFL, after all; if the organization moves to another city, the Washington Redskins team name stays behind.)
Perhaps if the Fighting Whites had instead called themselves, say, the Howlin' Honkies, the point would have been a shade more obvious.
"Cleveland Honkies! Where do I buy it? I think I'd pay $100 for a jersey so emblazoned. I'm completely serious," said one e-mailer.
Then again, perhaps not.
Posted by iain at January 06, 2003 12:17 PMComments
TO: Iain
RE: What's In a Name?
In Hawaii they'd be the Howlies.
But is 'redskin' derogatory? I think it's all in the eye of the beholder, like beauty or art.
Then again, if one did a good survey, they'd probably find that 'Redskins', 'Braves', 'Warriors', 'Chiefs', 'Indians', etc. were probably looked upon by the vast majority of the population as 'honorable'.
With the Fight'n Whities, I got the point, but hoisted them on their own pitard. I'm not ashamed of being 'white' or 'fight'n'.
Maybe calling themselves the "White Devils" and putting a KKK member in full fig as their mascot would have driven the point home more forcefully, however, I don't recall hearing of any team called the "Theiv'n Injins".
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[God is alive....and airborne-ranger qualified.]
Maybe the real problem is that the basic point they were trying to make wasn't actually worth making.
Posted by Steven Den Beste at January 11, 2003 02:50 AM(Actually, I'd love to have a shirt that said "Howlin' Honkies")
Posted by Steven Den Beste at January 11, 2003 02:51 AMWhere can I get a Honkies jersey?
Posted by marc at February 5, 2003 11:03 AMThese indian mascots are extemely racist and cannot be tolerate. I live in Birmingham Alabama and i bought a shirt for these ignorant assholes down here cant wait to see what they say Keep fightin the good fight! You really should make t-shirts that say the honkies and all the other names like the white devils i sure as hell would buy one
Posted by Ted Foster of B'ham at September 1, 2003 05:48 PM
