Cowboys and Indians

I had to dig for this article. It popped up as a headline for literally about 15 minutes on CNN.com, and then was buried on the site of affiliate Sports Illustrated (media conglomeration?). Basically, Jeb Bush is pissed that the NCAA ruled to ban Native American themed mascots from college sports on the basis that the Seminole tribe of Florida helped design Florida State's Seminole mascot outfit, replete with flaming spear.

Supposedly, that gets FSU off scot free; the real Seminoles don't mind the 'Noles. But I remember from my Native American history class at Michigan that FSU's mascot was among the most, if not the most, offensive to other Native Americans (and frankly, I'm a little suspicious of the relationship between the Seminole tribe and FSU - it just seems... odd). It ranks right up there with Cleveland's Chief Wahoo and Washington's Redskins on the offensive-o-meter, and frankly I understand - having a white guy paint on darker skin tone and war paint over that and ride around with a flaming spear is a little over the top.

At the same time, I hear that Inuits in Canada are all about Native American mascots and see them as their teams. But I think they should check enrollment stats before they get too excited about any college sports team being "theirs". There's more to it than mascots.

Anyhow, the one conclusion I can draw from this article is that Jeb Bush is not the right person to be speaking on the issue.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/football/ncaa/specials/preview/2005/08/09/bc.fl.floridast.seminol.ap/index.html