In 1977 I taught at Mukwonago, Wisconsin High School. Their nickname was the Indians. It still is, but not for long. There are over 1800 students in this school and the name Indians has been around since the school was established in the 1920's. Indian tribes like this name. It maintains their identity. One person affiliated with Mukwonago complained to the school board and that august body buckled. To make a point I told one of my best friends who used to be their football coach that the new name should be The Turds. Who would be offended unless there's a country called Turdistan? Maybe the natives of Turdistan would enjoy being called Turds. The name Turds would be more acceptable in our society than Indians and that doesn't seem right.
I broke a pledge to never use Wikipedia but I wanted to look up the number of professional, college and high school teams with a mascot denoting some type of Indian or tribe, e.g. Braves, Seminoles, Chiefs, etc. You won't be surprised to learn that the name, Indian, is by far the most popular name of it's type and is primarily in our high schools. When I was in high school one of our conference members, Oskaloosa, had the nickname of Indians. These guys were flat out geeks and awful athletes. If I was an Indian I would have wanted my name dropped because these guys couldn't play marbles without breaking their fingers.
Remember Rodney King and his famous quote: "Can't we all just get along"? With liberals populating this country and the ever ending news cycles over names it ain't gonna anytime soon, especially when it comes to Indian nicknames.
It made me very happy to read today that Dan Snyder, president of the Washington Redskins, told the Oneida Chiefs to take a hike when they demanded the Skins' change their name.
If the Indian tribes were smart they'd forget about nicknames and continue sticking it to the people at the gambling casinos. At these places they get their revenge every day and night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_team_names_and_mascots_derived_from_indigenous_peoples
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