The Illinois mascot Chief Illiniwek, a symbol of hypocrisy, insensitivity, and institutional cowardice and heel dragging is, at last, after eighty-one years of overstaying his welcome, a dead man dancing.
Of course, there are several parties who are seeking a stay for the Chief and there will no doubt be some that shed a tear during his final vaudevillian hops around the Assembly Hall on Wednesday. Surely the list of fraternity brothers and and assorted other undergrads who have spent many an hour over these eight decades painting their Caucasian faces into faux Native American splendor will be devastated. Given that University president B. Joseph White (Georgetown ‘69), the Board of Trustees, and Athletic Director Ron Guenther (Illinois ‘67) have allowed the mascot to dance for two years beyond its 2005 sanction by the NCAA indicates the Chief has also had friends in high places.
Not that the sanctions were particularly stinging. A ban on the hosting of postseason tournaments has little punitive power when the school’s only facilities appropriate for such hosting are in low revenue sports. Yet again, Myles Brand’s NCAA proves to be a watchdog with no teeth. The timid penalty and its ad hoc rollout suggests a governing body that is seldom willing to take strong, principled stands, even when the arguments behind them are as obvious and inalienable as those for civil rights and woman’s suffrage. Not surprisingly, it is expedience, lip service, and above all, protection of money interests that trump principles.
The Big Ten Conference has been even more flaccid and expedient on the issue to the point of invisibility. The conference has, despite decades long opportunities to provide enlightened, proactive leadership on the issue, made very little if any public condemnation of the Chief. As of today, there is still no statement from the conference on the looming retirement of the mascot and what that eventuality means to the Native Americans and committed activists whose outrage and diligence have finally carried the day. Unfortunately, the opportunities for the conference to get on the record are quickly expiring. This failure is not a benign one.
Of course, the largest burden of shame rests with the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, its stewards, and its faculty, students, and fans who have equivocated, stood idle, or actively, enthusiastically, indeed, reverently participated in the Chief Illiniwek phenomenon for decades beyond what is reasonable. Certainly, the University is partly a reflection of a society at large that is slow to evolve. But the nation’s public universities are also designed, even mandated to be exemplars and standard bearers for the highest ideals of that society. They should be on the vanguard of societal and historical change not among the laggards.
Looking at even an abbreviated history of the Illiniwek controversy from its first public condemnations in 1975 to today is a study in institutional blindness or worse, outright indifference that is hard to fathom. The period of inaction between 1975 and 1989 is particularly indicting. Two decades down the road from Brown v. Board of Education and the University of Illinois was still a welcome, guiltless home to what is the equivalent of a Native American minstrel show. Fortunately, the work of grassroots organizers, activism, and pressure, much of which sadly had to come from external sources rather than the university itself, has at last forced its hand.
One can only hope the University is still a hospitable home to those within its community such as Carol Spindel who endeavored to bring it into the modern age with her reforming spirit and truth telling over the years. This is fair question at a school where the Athletic Director is, within the last week, producing statements such as the following: “Personally, as an alumnus and former athlete, I am disappointed; however, as an administrator, I understand the decision that had to be made.†If people at the highest level of the university are still making public comments like that, one can imagine there is still more than a healthy contingent of rank and file who are still unchastened, still heel dragging into the 21st Century.
The many decades of Chief Illiniwek’s embarrassing reign at the University of Illinois is, as we’ve asserted, also but a chapter in a larger tale about the nation, state, and community in which it resides. Given the unseemly, tragic, mostly bungled history of our country’s handling of its original residents, the university is hardly alone in its guilt and transgression. And the hard truth is that the Native American community and its causes are still so marginalized and jeopardized that even obvious reform such as the one discussed here arrive glacially if at all.
But, the fact that the Native American interest, and its political (and financial) lobby are still negligible, doesn’t excuse institutions such as the University of Illinois, the Big Ten Conference, and the NCAA who do have the power to uphold what is right, what is simply true, what should be obvious. That they for so long lacked the vision and principles to do so is worth being highlighted. Their capitulation after so many years of inaction is impossible to praise. This is, however, the time to honor the efforts of those who will make Wednesday night at the Assembly Hall Chief Illiniwek’s last dance. As Dan Maloney of Galesburg, Illinois does his best Native American impression this week, thank those who have ensured that it will be his last.
The Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative (PRC) makes an unequivocal and inarguable summation of exactly why we should be thankful: “UIUC’s official mascot and symbol, “Chief Illiniwek” is a racist representation of Native people created by non-Natives for the halftime entertainment and profit of non-Native people. It undermines Native peoples’ right to self-determination by appropriating sacred aspects of Native political and religious culture. The “Chief’s” performance is just as offensive to Native Americans as the Little Black Sambo and Amos & Andy stereotypes are to African American people. By mocking Native culture, the UI sets a dangerous precedent for racist representation of all other social and ethnic groups targeted for oppression.”
For those who can’t wait until Wednesday, click here.
