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Parent Article: Chief protest ends; makes gains |
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Hidden with code "Duplicate post" |
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Re: Chief protest ends; makes gains |
by JWK
john_koenig (nospam) ici.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
28 Apr 2004
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Krush -
Based on his letter in today's DI, U of I President Stukel agrees with you. Pro-Chief does not equal racist.
Also, his letter supports the idea of compromise. You gave some good suggestions above. It would be great if the U of I could become a center for Native American studies. My only concern is how much that would actually benefit the state, seeing as how the state's taxpayers would be paying for the program. I don't know how many Native Americans live in Illinois.
You didn't address changes to Chief Illiniwek himself. It could be argued that the Chief, as an abstract symbol, does not have to be "accurate." The MSU Spartan is certainly not representative of Greek citizens living in Sparta today. The MSU Spartan is an abstract symbol for strength and selfless courage as demonstrated at Thermopylae. Similarly, the Chief could be viewed as an abstract symbol of courage and honor without any reference to present-day Native Americans. In general, symbols (and even mascots), are not meant to be taken literally. However, I do think that changes could be made to improve the accuracy of the symbol. The Chief should be made to look more like the Illini actually did, rather than looking like a plains Indian. If that means cutting off most of his hair, so be it. If portraying the Chief is such an honor, the person should be willing to give up some hair for that honor. The dance, for me, is more of a problem. I don't buy the idea that the dance is sacreligious. However, in the spirit of compromise, I'd even give up the dance. The one element of the Chief's ceremony during which he is most symbolic is when he raises his arms for the Alma Mater. At that moment, he brings all Illini together and really does represent the spirit of the university. That is something which should be kept. Unfortunately, compromise does not seem to be part of the vocabulary of the anti's. As you said at the end of your comment, it would be an excellent lesson for them to find out that the need for compromise a fact of life out in the real world.
JWK |
