Wow, Stanford alumni

[pastwatcher]

This is pretty damn shameful.

And right around Columbus Day, too. Because you know how the "discovery of the New World" was just awesome.

Note: I'm actually very "patriotic" about the USA. I think there's a lot of good or at least hopeful things about this country, and I would rather use my places within American culture to influence it than any other--even though I want a world where resources are shared well enough that we don't need nation-borders, or something like that. But, if we celebrate Columbus for his representation of European exploration of the New World, then we celebrate genocide, and we continue to ignore many of its survivors' descendants.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/little_e_/]

In Latin America (or somewhere in LA) they have La Dia de las Razas, or 'The Day of the Races', celebrating the day the different races which make up their societies met. It may not have been the most peaceful encounter, but none of us in the New World would exist if not for it. I like the idea of celebrating all of our cultures.

What do you think of the comments on the post asserting that it is only the privileged, 'white' Indians who care about mascots? There seems to actually be a real dispute between different groups of Indians over the issue. (EG, the Wikipedia claims that 91% of Indians polled "found the name "Redskins" acceptable," and "According to polling results published in Sports Illustrated in February 2002, 'Although most Native American activists and tribal leaders consider Indian team names and mascots offensive, neither Native Americans in general nor a cross section of U.S. sports fans agree. According to the article, "There is a near total disconnect between Indian activists and the Native American population on this issue.' "

It seems like there's a problem here of one privileged group speaking for another, less-privileged group which doesn't agree with them? It seems rather like a co-option of identity to me. But on the other hand, I don't want to offend or be disrespectful to the people who do care and are offended. They have, of course, every right to their feelings and identity and experiences and all.

Of course, I'm not a fan of any sports teams and don't own any sports related merchandise and the schools I've been associated with have mascots which are totally irrelevant. So my opinions are pretty irrelevant.