We walk, dance and play on a veneer of civilization that feels solid, most of the time. Then something happens to remind us that the surface is as thin and precarious as ice on a northern lake in early spring, and what swirls below is deep, cold and deadly.
Just such a reminder came with the anti-Indian slogans scrawled on posters at the University of North Dakota. These were published by Indian Country Today on its front page March 21.
The focus of the posters is UND’s sports name, “Fighting Sioux.” Most Native students there say they are personally offended by the name and the accompanying logos and behavior. Many Dakota, Lakota and Nakota (Sioux) leaders have called on UND to retire the name.
Dakota tribal leader Jay Taken Alive says “Fighting Sioux” disrespects his people and promotes bigotry and name-calling.
Taken Alive, who lives on his Standing Rock Sioux land not far from the Fargo campus, deserves respect and gets it nearly every place, except at UND. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak at an outdoor gathering at Taos Pueblo some years ago. He stood in the center of a large circle of Native wisdomkeepers, writers and artists, articulating a vision for the future. We witnessed eagles flying impossibly low above him, as if they thought he was worth listening to, and he still is referred to by some as the man who called the eagles.
On the other side of the debate is UND alum Ralph Engelstad, a former “Fighting Sioux” hockey player who says the name stands for honor and winning battles. He threatened to pull the plug on the $85 million hockey arena he’s buying the school if it dropped the name. The state’s education board members nearly trampled each other in their rush to vote to keep it.
Engelstad is not just a local rich guy who loves his American Indian symbols. He’s also collected Nazi memorabilia and proved too crass for Las Vegas, where Nevada’s gaming commission once fined him $1.5 million for throwing two parties at his casino to celebrate Adolph Hitler’s birthday.
Taken Alive and Engelstad are the most prominent role models for UND students on the “Fighting Sioux” issue.
Presumably the posters were crafted by students. They did not carry positive messages to rally support for the name, not even a simple “Yea, Fighting Sioux.”
No, these posters rally in the persuasive style of thugs and extortionists. The main attack messages appear in large block letters: “If you get rid of the ‘Fighting Sioux’ then we get rid of your free schooling.” “If the name has to go so should your funding.”
The slogans reveal a sense of entitlement and superiority, from the ever popular conversation stopper, “You lost the war, sorry,” to orders to stop whining, get a job, pay taxes and “Drink ’em lots o’ fire water.” The sloganeers may even have thought they were being original.
They show resentments against American Indian students over misperceived Indian advantage: “Wish I could get $20,000 when I turn 18.” “Wish I could go to school 4 free.”
The “Fighting Sioux” boosters descend into the depths with the literal bottom line of one poster: “Go back to the res, or work @ the Casion, Prarie Nigga” (sic, sic and sic). Taken Alive is right – name-calling leads to name-calling.
Keep in mind that the setting for these sentiments is an institution of higher learning. Educators and parents should be alarmed by the display of venom, but not many are. Some responsible adults need to connect the dots for the slow learners – symbols and attitudes and actions – and stop this emotional violence before it mutates.
At the very least, the adults at UND should recognize that some students are not developing their basic literacy skills and that “Fighting Sioux” may be a distraction they and society cannot afford.
On the theory that ignorance is curable and that “Fighting Sioux” boosters may just need information to fill the void, here are some facts. The overwhelming majority of Native Americans pay federal and state taxes, do not automatically get any money on any birthday and have no free rides to school or anyplace else. American Indian people do not benefit at the expense of non-Indians.
Most Native nations never fought a war against the United States. Some who did fight such wars did not lose. Descendants of victors in war do not have the right to treat progeny of the defeated side badly, and certainly not in perpetuity. All living Native American war veterans helped fight and win America’s wars.
While this may come as news to some at UND and elsewhere, there is no treaty, peace agreement or covenant that guarantees non-Indians a right to target American Indians with racist names or images for the sport or recreation of non-Indians.
The UND posters bring to mind some earlier signs of the times. My mother remembers an official sign from the 1930s in Pawnee and El Reno, Okla.: “Indians and Coloreds Off the Streets By Sundown.” I recall “No Indians or Dogs Allowed” signs in the 1950s and 1960s in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The last one of those I saw was in the window of a diner in Sturgis, S.D., in 1978.
Bumper stickers were the signs of the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest and 1980s in the Great Lakes area that were so popular with the crowd that opposed treaty fishing and hunting. “Kill An Indian / Save a Salmon” and “Shoot A Pregnant Indian / Save A Deer” were big sellers. In the 1990s and in this century, cars have been spotted in the state of Washington with such stickers as “Harpoon A Makah / Save A Whale.”
Here’s what all these signs of the times have in common. They are not about their ostensible subjects – saving animals or fish; keeping streets and businesses safe for white folks; continuing a school’s tradition. They are about dominating and humiliating Native Peoples. They are about denying American Indians dignity and respect and justice.
They are about racism, just below the surface of civilization.
