chimpy2121 Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/041nd1.htm Native American group plans suit over Lemont Indians Wednesday, January 4, 2006 By Steve Schmadeke Staff writerLemont High School District 210 faces a lawsuit from the Illinois Native American Bar Association over adopting "Indians" in November as the school's nickname. Bar association officials, who also are challenging the University of Illinois' Chief Illiniwek mascot, said they will wait for District 210 to decide on a school logo before filing the lawsuit. "There's no sense filing one lawsuit if we'll be filing another one afterward," said Kim Edward Cook, the bar association's secretary treasurer. "We want to see what form the (logo) takes," said Shannon Kobe, president of INABA. "I just don't know what these people are thinking ... in this day and age. We thought we didn't have to worry about Lemont anymore." INABA contends that using Indians as a nickname is demeaning to Native Americans. The District 210 school board says it's a respectful symbol of the area's Potawatomi natives. Starting today through Jan. 31, District 210 will accept designs from students, alumni and district residents for a new Indians logo. The winning designer wins $250 donated by four local businesses. The entries must be respectful of Native Americans and should draw on authentic cultural elements, according to the contest guidelines and district officials. A school board decision on the new logo is expected before the school year ends this spring. "The school board does want to wrap this up so kids can leave the school and have this settled," said Sue Arvesen, District 210's director of school and community relations. The controversy over Lemont High School's nickname has existed for many years. In 1969, the school switched from Indians to Injuns. Under a threatened lawsuit by INABA, the school board in late 2004 decided to drop Injuns and hold a community vote on a new nickname. A year ago, school board members adopted Titans as the nickname. But voters elected a new school board in April, with the nickname controversy a major campaign issue. The new board decided to revive the issue and conducted another community vote in September on whether Titans or Indians was preferable. Lemont High's teams competed last fall without a nickname. The latest vote resulted in about 70 percent support for Indians, and the board voted in November to adopt the former nickname. We have been in this whole Injun mascot debate for about two and a half years now. I can see where the word Injun might be offensive because it is somewhat of a derogatory term, but when we switched to Indians I thought this whole topic would be finally layed down to rest. Unfortunately that isn't the case...now we are going to be sued for having our mascot being the word "Indian". I think this is ridiculous and it is getting out of hand. Maybe for the mascot drawing contest I should draw a man with a darker skin complexion in a suit with a briefcase. One last point, why aren't schools like Minooka (Indians), Morris (Redskins), and other schools that have Native American mascots being sued? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUKE_CLEVELAND Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 QUOTE(chimpy2121 @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 01:33 PM) One last point, why aren't schools like Minooka (Indians), Morris (Redskins), and other schools that have Native American mascots being sued? They havent gotten around to them yet. All they're looking for is a precedent they can use in future lawsuits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 03:03 PM) They havent gotten around to them yet. All they're looking for is a precedent they can use in future lawsuits. There are TONS of Native American team names in Illinois. When I lived in Southern Illinois, it seemed like if your mascot wasnt a dog or a cat, it was the Indians or Redskins etc. If the Native Americans succeed in one case, I have feeling that there is going to be alot of re-named mascots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 01:32 PM) There are TONS of Native American team names in Illinois. When I lived in Southern Illinois, it seemed like if your mascot wasnt a dog or a cat, it was the Indians or Redskins etc. If the Native Americans succeed in one case, I have feeling that there is going to be alot of re-named mascots. Man do we dislike those Valpo "Vikings". I'm afraid this is one of those I can't offer a solution to. Is the word "Indian" offensive? Some people say it is, but I don't know if I can offer a justification as to why, or why the word "Viking" isn't offensive to the Norse peoples of modern day. Redskins? Ok, maybe that would be pushing it, but Indians? I just don't see how that is offensive, but if people claim it is, I don't know whether tradition or offense should win out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_genius Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 08:24 PM) I don't know whether tradition or offense should win out. consider yourself sued, b****. sincerly, Phillip J. Drummond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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