Reaction to Sioux nickname varies across the country
February 11, 2012 at 2:11 pm in Grand Forks Herald
“Congratulations, people of North Dakota.”
So wrote Don Surber on Thursday in the online edition of the Daily Mail in Charleston, W. Va., responding to the filing of petitions earlier in the week to put the Fighting Sioux nickname issue to a statewide vote.
“You have forced the hand of the people who run UND to return the names of the school’s teams to the Fighting Sioux,” Surber wrote. Continue Reading
Mr Barreiro apparently doesn’t understand the UND doesn’t want the name! Someone send him a hammer so he can beat this into his thick skull!
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So quoting the article, “North Dakota will reinforce itself as a backwards state that time, logic and reason forgot.” What about Florida, Michigan, and Utah, are they illogical, and unreasonable? I don’t think so. NoDaks are just willing to fight for what we know is right, PC is killing this country and we are making a stand!
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Don’t forget the Spirit Lake Tribe are the ones who intiatied the petition and are suing the NCAA! Let’s stand with them!
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It is amazing how people can judge our state of North Dakota without actually looking into who we truelly are. As long as I lived in North Dakota I have run into people that think we are so back in the dark ages. I was born and raised in North Dakota I have always stuck together through thick and thin. I wonder how many any other states can say that? This rude man from W. Va. needs to shut his mouth and worry about his own state’s college’s. If people in this country want to talk about N.Dak. maybe they should talk about the flooding and the oil expansion and how to help us deal with it?
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Dawn,
He didn’t make this stuff up. We did it to ourselves. I love UND, that is why I fight so hard on this issue, but like it or not, our stance makes us look like upper mid west swamp people (you know the show, where they run around killing alligators and giving southerners with an IQ higher than a kleenex box a bad name).
He is just reflecting how we have behaved during this fiasco. He never looks for the good because we give him too much opportunity to comment on the bad.
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“I was born and raised in North Dakota I have always stuck together through thick and thin. I wonder how many any other states can say that? ”
ummm, all of them. As much as North Dakotans want to think that they are unique in this regard, such as when they repeat “We help sandbag each other’s property! No other states’ residents would do something like that!” it is a fallacy. Don’t forget that hundreds of people died and thousands more were injured in NYC and VA on 9/11 because they ran INTO the burning buildings.
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Its sad that this issue is till alive. I have heard the organizer of the petition stating that was a religious ceremony performed by the Chief of the Sioux and should be honored. If this is so why didnt the tribal council allow a vote. Dont they honor the ceremonies like everyone else has to ?????? I am just curious. The NCAA has stated they wont change their minds regardless of what the state does, so why not just let this situation rest and let UND go on. According to an article in the GF Herald last week, even the student government wants this to go away
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Stephen,
I have been at UND since 2002. We have voted on this issue numerous times. EVERY SINGLE TIME the students have voted to retire the name (by a wide margin). The faculty likewise have voted numerous times to get rid of the cartoon.
UND has spoken with one voice for nearly a decade. It is not UND or GF that wants the name, it is “outsiders” with no affiliation to the school. They are using this fiasco as a foil for their own political agenda. They could care less about UND, we are simply an avenue to achieve their goals.
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The council didn’t authorize the vote because to do so would dishonor the ceremony.
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To all who think ND is a podunk or backward place let me say this. I own and operate two medical facilities in the Southeast. If I could fill my entire staff with people from ND I would do it in a heartbeat. Don’t EVER let anyone tell you anything different. I have lived in the MSP (which seems to be about 1/3 ND folks anyway) and what I have found is the further away you get from ND the less dependable, more dishonest and basically loud people get. Now, there are good people (and bad) everywhere, don’t get me wrong. But, statistically speaking, I would rely on anyone from ND before I looked outside of our state.
I have waivered on the Sioux issue for some time and still don’t know what to think. In the article I believe the man from the Boston Globe might have made the most sense. Even though SR did not get to vote (which was very upsetting…i.e., SL and the entire state lose here), maybe we do have to make peace with the past by accepting the present. I was as hardcore as anyone about keeping the Sioux name. When the SR tribal council (part of the council mind you…we are talking about 3 or 4 people here) disallowed the reservation to vote I was very disturbed and felt we needed to do whatever it took to keep the name. I felt like many ND folks, what SR did was simply WRONG. However, we all need to be practical about this matter and I also know most people in my home state are that as well. The potential losses UND will incur now outweigh the righteousness we all feel in demanding a FAIR approach to deciding the UND/Sioux name. This is akin to taking a punch to the gut and simply moving on.
No matter how this matter turns out I want ND to know I am so grateful for being born and raised in our great state. I owe all that I have and am to the state of ND. So, whenever you hear any outsider say anything derogatory about our state, UND or any other facet of who we are please do not believe one word of it. When I hear things like this MN radio personality I know he is a weak, ill-informed and ignorant man looking for ratings. People like this do not upset me anymore, I actually feel sorry for them because I know they are feeble of mind. Be proud of your roots ND, be very proud. Yes, most of us grew up in small towns and are probably a little naive in a number of ways. But, I would trade all of my naivety for the great gifts I received growing up and receiving a degree at UND!!! No matter how this all turns out I will still love coming back to UND and watching the Sioux…or North Dakota….whoop up on the Goph’s.
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“No matter how this all turns out I will still love coming back to UND and watching the Sioux…or North Dakota….whoop up on the Goph’s.”
I could not agree more. I hope there will be ND vs Living Proof that Darwin was Wrong Rodents in the future. As of now that particular rivalry is gone, except if we meet in the Final Four. I hope that changes.
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Your own story bears out a truth: the outmigration of Nodakers for greener fields. The parsimony of North Dakotan employers is legendary. What would you be making here for the same job? What would you be paying your employees? True, North Dakota workers will always be sought for their habits. Unfortunately, those seeking from elsewhere pay alot more.
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Has more to do with wanting to see the big wide world or an interest in a profession that has little future here like ocean biologist or the thousands of other that are not needed in ND.
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Has more to do with the fact any other state pays more for the same job. How many parents in ND have children living elsewhere, making more money, who would never return here to live? I do.
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The stereotypes that people have about ND are similar to the stereotypes that people have about minorities and are the basic underlying reason why there is the opposition to using Native American logos. Many of them used stereotypes and not very flattering ones either. It really isn’t a question of whether UND was guilty of that or not, it got caught up in a backlash against those hateful, hurtful stereotypes.
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Good point. Never thought of it in that light. Very good. Not totally sure I agree, but well said. Food for thought.
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I wrote this in the Herald comments back on Feb. 27, 2009. For the record I’ll restate it: “All anyone needs for proof that the name change is neccesary is to read the ridiculous racist comments left on this message board.”
Lately Abraham Lincoln’s 200th year anniversary has been acclaimed in the
media. Lincoln wasn’t so great. He hung 38 Lakota prisoners of war in
Mankato, MN in 1862. (William W. Mayo stole a chief’s body and used it for
medical experiments.) It’s the largest mass execution in amerikan history.
Aside from murdering POWS, amerika’s genocidal “Manifest Destiny —
a result of the European Industrial Revolution’s over population, and
voracious GREED of Gilded Age Capitalist demons — pursuit of cheap
food and resource mongering profits makes me wonder if the Agent’s
depiction of the humans as being a race of virus in the movie “The Matrix”
isn’t true. (At least the white race.) By the way, I’m white.
So I regress; playing ice hockey is fine by me, but demeaning fellow human
beings via the vulgarity of history is not. We live in an era of human rights
and not witchcraft. Get over it, Ralph Englestad was wrong on this one.
For those who demand a “constructive” name replacement, may I suggest
the “FIGHTING ANARCHISTS”? Or perhaps no name at all.”
It still rings true.
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http://www.ag.nd.gov/NCAA/SettlementAgreement.pdf
State of North Dakota In District Court
County of Grand Forks Northeast Central Judicial District
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT and MUTUAL RELEASE
Civ No. 06-C-01333
Filed: October 26, 2007
State of North Dakota, by and
through the North Dakota
State Board of Higher Education,
and the University of North Dakota,
Plaintiff,
v.
National Collegiate Athletic Association,
Defendant.
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Sued and settled. That’s why the UND, as required by the second part of “The Law”, can not sue again, making The Law twisted.
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The Spirit Lake tribe are the ones in court at this time. They were not ALLOWED by the NCAA to be part of the negotiations. They are suing the NCAA for DISCRIMINATION against them, who are the bigots here???
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I’m pretty sure it’s not Spirit Lake that’s suing. It’s some committee made up by citizens from there. If you saw the NCAA’s response to that suit, the smart money is on the NCAA.
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Spirit Lake Tribe has filed the suit against the NCAA. Twelve counts including copyright infringement, violations of religion and civil rights, emotional distress, lack of jurisdiction, etc and are seeking 18 reliefs. Amazing the group trying to be protected in all of this has sucessfully petitioned for referendum, initiated petition for constitutional amendment, preparing to take on the SBHE, and suing the heck out of the NCAA even at the risk of defending the nicknames we all disagree that should not be used anymore…… If the Spirit Lake Tribe is willing to stand up and fight for what they believe is right, and where we have failed (and chickened out), let them be heard and have their day in court with the upmost respect they deserve!
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Wrong the committee was appointed by the Tribal Council with full authority to act on behalf of the council.
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I guess we’ll see. I think they have no legal position. You think they do. I’m right a lot. Maybe I’m wrong this time. Probably not.
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What will Chuck Haga do with the Herald if this name issue ever goes away?
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Go back and work for the Strib at a higher salary.
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And the beat goes on………………………………
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Tune in tomorrow for another episode of “As The Stomach Turns”.
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I would love to see what would happen if something news worthy were to happen in North Dakota. Then you North Dakotans would have something intelligent to talk about. Rather than having 10 headline articles about the same story….I created a log in just to say how much I think this “news” paper sucks…… I feel more informed reading the inquirer…. at least they admit to being bias..
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