[Peace-discuss] Interview questions

[Karen Medina]

Hi Karen (daughter of Marti Wilkinson),

I have not finished answering all the questions in the survey about
activists at the anti-chief demonstration, but I need to do some other
work right now. So I thought I would give you what I have so far.

-karen medina

On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 9:06 AM, Karen W. <witherwind at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello! This is Marti's kid. She told me I could send these questions to you guys (re: the issues regarding the Chief), so here I am. :) Thank you very much!

1.  Your name

Karen Medina

2. Your role in the community
* Graduate Student.
* Townie (I grew up in Champaign).
* Professional librarian -- I have worked in both libraries, though I
don't work in either right now, my role as librarian influences how I
care about all people in the community, especially those that are
often over looked or less represented over and over again.
* University student AND long-term resident -- as part of this group,
I have a foot in two worlds that don't overlap everywhere.
* Anti-war activist.

3. Do you think the problem I have described is important? Why?
You described the problem as "the issues regarding the Chief." This is
a very short statement that needs a bit of unpacking.

Mascots that insult or stereotype people should not be accepted. I
used to live in Pekin, Illinios where the high school football team
was the "Pekin Chinks." Chinks is a very disparaging term, a very
negative word, a racial slur, that refers to a person of Chinese birth
or descent. Chinese men were brought into the United States to do hard
labor on things like the railroad. When they came, the men were not
allowed to bring their wives and children. We only wanted men. These
men were treated very much like slaves -- expected to work hard at
jobs that most non-desperate people would not willingly take. These
men were not allowed to be active participants in the  society. They
were forbidden to start businesses and do other things. Chinese were
seen as unclean. Anytime someone is labeled as "unclean", we need to
look to see who is preventing them from having access to basic goods
like water and soap and healthcare. The word Chink is an expression of
hatred towards a people. When people are violent towards other people
and they use words like Chink or Nigger or Fagot, we call these hate
crimes. Having the football team named the Chinks was not a thing of
pride.

In 1980, the Pekin football team became the Pekin Dragons, but this
was 5 years after the Chinese American groups asked the school to
change the name.

Native Americans have been asking for Native American mascots to be
changed all over the country. There are tomahawk chops and all sorts
of silly things going on with negative stereotypes and making fun of
an entire group of people who are very few in numbers on those teams
if represented at all.

Is Chief Illiniwek as bad as all those bad mascots?

Well, first of all, the University of Illinois no longer has a mascot
at all. The trustees voted, it is over. Yet thousands of people want
the mascot to be brought back. So this is a slightly different issue
than what we had several years ago. We are no longer asking the
University to take a stand, we are now asking individuals to consider
what they are doing.

The term Illini does not represent any one group of people but
probably six to thirteen Native American tribes in the upper
Mississippi River valley. 'Illinois' was not the Illinois tribes' name
for themselves. So, number one, it is a name that in itself is
stereotyping.

Second, the mascot was generally portrayed by a white student dressed
in Sioux regalia.

By the way, the headdress had been a gift to the university but the
family asked that it be returned and the judicial courts ruled in the
family's favor. The University complied.

Third, Several American Indian groups, as well as other people of
color and white people say that the symbol/mascot was a
misappropriation of indigenous cultural figures and rituals and that
it perpetuated stereotypes about American Indian peoples. As a result
of this controversy, the NCAA termed Chief Illiniwek a "hostile or
abusive" mascot and image.

In my opinion, if someone tells you that they feel you are making fun
of them, then you stop doing it.

I have a friend who says that his Native American neighbor likes the
Chief as a mascot. That is a legitimate anecdote that can easily
influence one's stance on the issue, but that is one instance -- a
single anecdote. So I think a bit more needs to be taken into account.
I think I need to listen to the voices of the people affected by the
symbol. Listening to one voice, like that of the neighbor mentioned
before, is a good start. But a sample of one is not very
representative.

Does the chief as mascot promote a positive educational opportunity? I
grew up with the Chief as mascot. Did I ever look into what it does or
does not represent? No. I learned more through the controversy than
any other way. And the side that has shared much more information
about the tribes and traditions is the side that is opposed to the
chief as mascot.

Do I think demonstrating against the pro-chief group is an important
problem? "An injury to one is an injury to all" -- this was the motto
used by the Industrial Workers of the World and it is a good one to
come back to. If I look carefully at the people supporting the chief,
I find the vast majority of them to be white. When I look at the
demonstrators against the use of the chief, I see a wide variety of
skin colors -- whites were actually in the minority at more than one
event. That itself speaks volumes to me. To me, it was worth looking
into what the normally poorly represented minority groups were saying.
Educating oneself is important. Choosing which issues to look into
deeper is sometimes difficult because there are so many. The color of
the demonstrators immediately indicated that this issue was worth
looking into.

Is it worth it to join the demonstrators? Some of the Native Americans
have been at this for 18 years. Surely I can come out to stand with
them while I am here.

Does it do any good? A tiny mosquito can buzz, a bunch of mosquitos
can buzz louder. (By the way, there are stories of mosquitos being so
thick and annoying that they have driven people insane or to jump off
cliffs to get away from them. I think the stories I read were about
people going west during the gold rush). The demonstrators are not
mosquitoes, but if they are present and get one person to know about
the issue who did not know about it before, then maybe the
demonstration is effective. But the solidarity of it is the other side
of it. If I stand with the Native Americans on this, then I stood up
for my own values. The injustice that happens to other people can and
will happen to us unless we work together to stop the injustice before
it spreads.

4. Do you think others in our community believe this is an important
problem? Why?

I believe there are people in different places on this:
* people who think the chief is no longer an issue
* people who want to bring back the chief
* people who want to move on and get a new mascot (which is what we
are asking the U of I administration to do).
* people who do not care one way or another.

The group who wants to bring back the chief is rather large and
predominantly white middle class.

I know of one person who is Native American but works for the
University and is afraid to come to the demonstrations because he
believes that he may be recognized and fired. I don't think he would
be fired, but that is not something I know for sure. But, yes, there
are others in the community that think this is an important issue.

5. What might be the cause or causes of this problem?

A failure by a vast majority of people to look deeper into the symbol
of Chief Illiniwek.

6. Do you think this is a problem that should be dealt with by. . .
a. government acting alone? Why or why not?
By government, I think we could say the U of I administration.
Acting alone, no.
The U of I administration can and should do several things: 1) help
the university move on 2) do all the education things that they said
they would 3) pursue the trademark infringement.

b. government with the assistance of civil society? Why or why not?
yes
c. government with the assistance of the private sphere? Why or why not?
yes
d. government with the assistance of civil society and the private
sphere? Why or why not?
yes
7. What policy, if any, is already in place to deal with this problem?
yes

8. If a policy does exist. . .
a. What are the advantages of this policy?

b. What are the disadvantages?

c. How might the policy be improved?

d. Does it need to be replaced? Why?

e. What disagreements about this policy, if any, exist in our community?

9. If there are no policies currently in place. . .
a. What sort of policy do you think might be needed to address the problem?

b. What level(s), branch(es), or agency(ies) of government are
responsible, or should be responsible, for dealing with the problem?

10. Do you have any suggestions for where I might get more information
about this problem and the different positions people take on the
problem?