toasty

so you don't like liberals because they are willing to stand up for those who feel offended.

It is easy to rip people who are offended when you always sit with the majority. A good representative government doesn't just worry about the majority.

So in your view, toasty2k, liberals value human decency, show respect for others and represent those without a voice while the conservatives only serve themselves. Yes, I guess I would agree with your generalization.

This is nothing more than the liberals throwing more political correctness down our throats. you don't like, then stop voting for these clowns. Otherwise deal with it.

Milton "Redmen" supporters blew their chance to keep their nickname when they refused to drop the Indian logo. As others have noted in their posts, the term "redmen" WAS originally coined to describe their sports teams because the players wore red uniforms. Those who opposed the name change COULD and SHOULD have recommended changing the Indian logo to something different. In their case "Redmen" was portrayed by an Indian logo and personally I believe using skin color to describe ANY ethnic group is offensive. Allow the tribes portrayed by the school mascots to determine whether proper respect is paid to their heritage.

There is no such thing as a name that offends no one for all time. Many of these names for these schools have been in place for decades, giving these institutions their own sort of history. Native American is no longer in vogue, American Indian seems to be the PC label for today. What happens when someone objects to depicting this culture as Warriors or Chiefs? Why aren't more teams caled Squaws or Peace Pipe Smokers?

This debate has no end. It will go on for ever and ever and ever and ever...

"All Hail The Great Potato" - Jim Hanson's Dinosaurs.... although that particular episode is irrelevant when it comes down to the great mascot debate, it does have a valid moral to it... if everyone in society gets their way because something irritates them (of which some things are valid), then where does that leave us??
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anonymous, I agree w/ you as far as covering the basics, or even consider the possibility of using a famous tribal chief/elder... so long as the mascot is not degrading, then why dispute it??

The correct term is American Indian! Not Native American! Yes, if you were born in American you are "native American" which is why we use "American Indian" now instead. I am part of the KBIC Ojibwa tribe in the U.P. and find it particularly irritating when people call themselves "Native American" because their great grandmother's second cousin's friend was Indian. And not every tribe has a casino or profits from casinos! But more on subject, it really doesn't bother me if a high school mascot is an Indian; however, names should be limited to things like "the chiefs" or "the warriors"...

It just amazes me to see that we deal with the high schools and college teams, but yet the teams with all the money can keep their names. I am talking about the Cleveland Indians, The Atlanta Braves, The Chicago Blackhawks, and the Washington Redskins. It seems that if you have millions to spend, then we forgive those organizations which abuse this as well. I believe if one has to change, then ALL teams, including professional teams, must follow suit.

intrigued....FYI

Milwaukee Pius High School "Popes" - Milwaukee, WI

Ever seen their half time show?

twerp13, yours is the definative post on this subject. You know that they are not offended, and I know that they are not offended. The Indians I know take pride in their heritage and are pleased that it is recognized.

It is time to stop the nonsense and be concerned about important issues that truly do affect people.

I have said this before on a blog about this topic, but here I go again. I am a graduate of Milton High School. I will always consider myself a Redman, no matter what they choose to rename themselves. I also have had the great pleasure of talking to literally thousands of native Americans (through my volunteer work at the Heider farm where Miracle the white buffalo was born), several of which were medicine men/women and even chiefs. They all agreed that the use of Indian names and or mascots was NOT and I repeat NOT offensive to them. In fact they felt honored themselves that their heritage was being remembered. The only offensive position they took was that the names be not demeaning (such as the scalpers, etc...) but that redman, chiefs, redskins, warrior were very much. acceptable.
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By the way the american indian is of the red nation and those that practice their native religion sometimes call it the red path, so in essence there is nothing wrong with calling them the red man.

by the time our society is expunged of anything that may or may not offend the last person, life with be as exciting as white paste. BTW...some names are obviously wrong. Cracker is bad(unless its whole wheat), white man is ok, last time i checked warrior is good, redskin is bad(unless its a boot)

how can we decide how people will react to our labels, in this case mascot labels and school nick name labels. the fact that some people might be offended by white america using native american logos and mascots modeled after native american anything, should be enough for white america to, in these cases, drop dopy tradition and find other mascots and nicknames. how hard is that? tradition will be established by the new students over time and our country will be better for it. go irish!!!!

Sorry for the double post. I guess something that is so insightful and filled with wisdom needs to be said twice!

What a waste of time and money! Major problem I have is how do you define "offensive"? I am offended that people are offended as something as stupid as a high school mascot. Get a life. I was not alive when the Indians were taken advantage of, forced out and in some cases killed by our government. I am truly sorry it happened but I know that changing the Bigfoot High School Chiefs to something like the Bigfoot High School Golden Eagles will not even come close to making amends for the past injustice or make one bit of difference to our young people, Indian or non Indian.

There are a 1,000 other more important things to worry about in our state and in our schools than a logo on the wall of a school. Wake up Wisconsin!

What a waste of time and money! Major problem I have is how do you define "offensive"? I am offended that people are offended as something as stupid as a high school mascot. Get a life. I was not alive when the Indians were taken advantage of, forced out and in some cases killed by our government. I am truly sorry it happened but I know that changing the Bigfoot High School Chiefs to something like the Bigfoot High School Golden Eagles will not even come close to making amends for the past injustice or make one bit of difference to our young people, Indian or non Indian.

There are a 1,000 other more important things to worry about in our state and in our schools than a logo on the wall of a school. Wake up Wisconsin!

You can, and should.

I don't think any Schools, Teams, etc. have an Indian nickname to mock anyone. I believe that it's because they have choosen a nickname that has something to do with the area that they are in. This is in honor of the Tribes, Chiefs, etc. Do you honestly think that the Schools used the nickname to mock a certain group of people?

For some teams Like the Redskins, I don't understand the Nickname, but back when it was generated, I don't think they said "hey lets make fun of Indians and name our team the Redskins"

Imagine if we used other ethnicities as our mascots; many people would be up in arms.

Men, women and children were betrayed, slaughtered and watch as their land was stolen. Now, that same culture says it is whining because they like having a person dress as an Indian and mocking their customs.

Just because as a German I don't worry or care much about my ancestry because I have and my family, easily integrated and assimilated into this society. Nothing was stolen from me or my family.

Marie and Intrigued, by your comments and willingness to attend a class shows you are educated and care about the COMMUNITY not your selfishness.

Dude, it is TOO much not TO much. Get an education.

To all of you saying it is just a mascot, then why wouldn't you support changing it to something that offends no person? If it is so meaningless you wouldn't criticize those who don't like it.

It is 2009, names like Redman and Redskins, Indians, etc... Should be removed.

The ignorance, intolerance and close mindedness of some in this community is amazing.

I went to Big Foot and will always be a CHIEF. Nothing derogatory in that, but they changed their logo as well. My question is what do the indians want to be remembered for? Gambling?, maybe we should change all the indian logos to slot machines or dice, and have nicknames such as the one armed bandits or the Snake eyes. Let's get real. We have bigger fish to fry in the great state of Wisconsin than logo's and or nicknames.

"WE ARE SPARTAN!!!"

"The Seminole Tribe of Florida officially sanctions the use of the Seminole as Florida State University’s nickname and of Chief Osceola as FSU's mascot. Max Osceola, the chief and general council president of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, feels that it is an “honor” to be associated with the university."
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http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2...

Aye, not all this again. I guess since I grew up on a farm and had to husk corn as a kid I should threaten the University of Nebraska with a lawsuit if they don't change their logo/mascot. Booohoo!

Intrigued, I'm wondering if you were in my class the other night when we had a speaker about teaching Native American students. He presented information exactly like the information you are describing. I thought that the Catholic analogy he used was really an effective way of explaining how some cultures/religions could be hurt, and not honored, by using their names/symbols as team names/mascots.

He also said something like, "It is up to the person/culture themselves if they feel honored by a mascot, not whether or not someone outside of this culture that says they should be." I think if you really think about this, it should become clear why these issues should be a focus of our Education Committee in Wisconsin.

Ya'll Complain to much, just shut up and deal with it! I swear this city is nothing but a big soap op. keep the mascots and names, nothing needs to change. ya'll just cry to much. vote on something better like healthier food in chow halls or something, or more protection for students in school or better education, leave everything else alone.

Redmen was for Red shirts? Don't you remember the indian logo? But, this PC stuff is getting out of hand. We do not live in Star Trek, this is the really real world and people should lighted up a little bit! A committee for this purpose is a joke, but no surprise.

Know what? I am not going to wait until next month to tell lawmakers what I think about a bill that would permit education officials to prohibit American Indian mascots in schools. I am going to tell them now- It stinks! If this is the best issue the Assembly Education Committee can come up with, then it is time to disband the committee.

I'm against mascots that use Native Americans, but I'm also against the centralized government -- in this case the state -- dictating what localities can do. It can all work itself out on a local level when the locals are ready to act.

Grow up....there are too many whiners in the world today. Get some thicker skin or just remember, STICKS AND STONES..... Words do not hurt.

Are you ashamed of your past? Is this why people want the mascots changed?

I think you are all missing the point and perhaps (Dr. Talk I know you are already there) you all should read some of the intense comments on the forum of the article titled "Finding Your Call." It surprises me that it is OK for people who belong to the big 3 religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) to get upset about affronts to their religion but when someone dresses is sacred ceremonial garb (read religious) and mocks Indian religion at a sporting event that seems to be OK. The mascot issue isn't just about names. It is about how sacred objects and rituals have been co-opted by white culture in a disrespectful and (in christian language) sacriligious way. As someone raised Catholic I think I can say that Catholics around the country would be unhappy if there was a sports team named the Popes who dressed like the pope and ran around pretending to sprinkle holy water on the fans at half-time.

Though not all sports teams named after Indians engage in this kind of behavior, this is what began the push to eliminate those names.

Not happy when the redmen lost their name (red for red shirts NOT slang), not happy now. Being part Native American, I’m proud that a school honors Native American. You don’t call yourselves the panthers because you think panthers are weak or disgraceful or a joke. The bald eagle? At the Boston tea party, they dressed as Indians not to hide (to small a town for that back then), but as a symbol of freedom and the new world. There are full blooded native americans who dont find many of these names disrepectful, but they seem to be ignored. AND some of the PC crowd eats this up. SOME wont be happy till out society runs grey with blandness. Check out "Lathe of Heaven", when humans when 'gray' to end prejustices, George's African American girlfriend lost much of who she was.

Since I was born & raised in the US, that makes me a native American too?

At least they said American Indian instead of Native American. They weren't native to America; they migrated from Siberia.

As an endangered quadruped in Wisconsin, I feel the Craig's logo is a slap in the nose to my species

are you serious, is there anything or anymore someone can complain about? why dont you just use numbers for everything like you do prisoners, because thats what this has become, prisoners of our own society,all the problems our sate is having right now and theyre going waste time on this? an yes i said waste. i as an native american and irish descent, do not find these logos and etc, offending at all, what is wrong with our society, we have other things to worry about besides logos.

With the economy going down daily, over spending by government, unemployment over 7% and a governor that wants to raise taxes in a dying economy, I am glad to see our lawmakers putting their time to such good us.

As a proud person of Scandinavian descent I demand a public hearing and a bill that requires Janesville Parker to change their name as well.