Native American students at the University of Denver are demanding that the school drop the “Pioneers” — denouncing the nickname as a symbol of “genocide and oppression.” We previously discussed the controversial decisions to drop the “Fighting Sioux” and “Chief Illini” and the Aztecs. I have been critical of some of these moves and I would include the Pioneers among those ill-considered changes. The school has already yielded to demands to drop the informal mascot of Danial Boone by implementing a ban on masks on campus.
Boone was dropped by the schools as a “polarizing figure” in 2013. However, the school kept the Pioneer nickname.
Now the Native Student Alliance is campaigning for the nickname to be dropped, according to the school’s newspaper The Clarion.
Native Student Alliance co-president Raelene Woody insisted that the name is “associated with westward expansion, genocide, oppression, assimilation of Native American students.” It is certainly true that the term references Western expansion but that is a great part of the history of Colorado. Not all pioneers were oppressors or genocidal maniacs. Most were families looking for a better life and willing to face tremendous hardships to find it.
What do you think?
Aren’t these Native Americans themselves guilty of cultural appropriation merely by attending college?
And isn’t it cultural appropriation if they also drive cars? Fly on aircraft? Eat hamburgers? Get medical treatment when necessary? Speak english?
I agree. You left out giving the world lung cancer though. After all, it was the Native American that introduced the world to smoking tobacco.
I am one person who is bored by all these claims about genocide, slavery, oppression, et. al. But I also resist the idea of always changing things just because. History moves on, and these moments, whether good or bad, are a part of history: They happened. We don’t have to like what happened in the past, but no amount of re-writing or changing mascots is going to change the fact that these events happened.
So my message to these protesters is to either accept the history, or go where your feelings won’t be hurt. I would prefer not to have to hear about your whining that a school mascot “offends” you. Certainly there are other universities that would accept you and also have a mascot you can adore.
On a related note, to the whiners: Since history is written by the winners, how do you REALLY feel about the Confederate States of America? Their soldiers fought and lost a war initiated by your hated United States government and its President, Abraham Lincoln. So you must have been avid supporters of those who fought and lost, just like those conquered in the United States’ westward expansion.
Mao would be proud. I have to ask, when do the Minnesota Vikings have to drop their appropriation of Nordic culture?
I am curious what the Native Student Alliance thinks about the history of slavery, in particular sexual slavery, practiced by Native Americans. Human nature is universal, as is the fight for survival. Therefore, tribes conquered and enslaved each other and pushed weaker tribes into environments with less resources. Tribes didn’t live in the desert because they liked the heat. Some tribes hung the scalps of their enemies as trophies, and viewed the endurance of pain as a right of passage. Some tribes gave women more autonomy, but in others they were merely chattel to be bought, sold, traded, kidnapped, raped, and/or forced into marriages. In their moral equivalence, do they think that all tribes were as relatively peaceful as the Nez Perce? Do they think they all lived in teepees and smoked peace pipes all the time? I notice that they did not leave the remaining Clovis Indians with their lands intact, but rather “absorbed” them.
This does not mean that tribes were “bad.” I actually love a lot about the cultures of various tribes, including their art, legends, and traditions. They were the product of their times and history, and the state of the resources. Times of plenty meant times of peace. When game failed and winters were harsh, then they did not genteelly starve, but saw increased conflict.
After Europeans arrived, tribes continued to steal from opposing tribes as a way to build wealth, only they added stealing horses to the tradition of kidnapping women.
If you are looking for a symbol of oppression and genocide, look no further than the pillars of human skulls created by the Aztecs. These pillars have yet to be unearthed in their entirety, and are made of the bones of men, women, and children…thousands of them. Cortez defeated the Aztecs. Just think how many people alive today would never have existed had the Aztecs been allowed to flourish. They engaged in human sacrifice, and were bloodthirsty with their enemies, and the children of their enemies.
If you are going to judge the actions of the US, judge them relative to the actions of other countries and peoples of their times.
America needs a good “whitelashing!”
It’s as if the passengers on the Titanic made the hole in their own boat.
That dudn’t make any sense!
America dudn’t make any sense.
I like calling them the “Scalpers”. That’s multicultural.
This speech should be posted in every thread such as this.
If you read anything today, read this.
AMERICAN SUICIDE
Wherever you stand, please take the time to
read this; it ought to scare the pants off you!
We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado (Democrat). In that context his thoughts
are particularly poignant. Recently there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington,
DC, filled to capacity by many of America’s finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by
the name of Victor Davis Hansen talked about his latest book, “Mexifornia,” explaining how
immigration – both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California He said it would
march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech
on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the
destruction of the United States. He said, “If you believe that America is too smug, too
self-satisfied, too rich, then let’s destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in
history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise
and fall and that ‘An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.’”
“Here is how they do it,” Lamm said: “First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or
multi-lingual and bicultural country.” History shows tha! t no nat ion can survive the tension, conflict,
and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures It is a blessing for an individual to
be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour
Lipset, put it this way: “The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are
histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.” Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of
national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus
have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficult times with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.”
Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, “Invent ‘multiculturalism’ and encourage immigrants
to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are
no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due
solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.
Third, “We could make the United States an ‘Hispanic Quebec’ without much effort. The key is to
celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: “The
apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved
not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and
what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.”
Lamm said, “I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would! replace the
melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various
cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing
their similarities.”
“Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a
second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this
second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school.”
“My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these
efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of
‘Victimology.’ I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the
majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.”
“My sixth plan for America’s downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided
loyalties I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities.
Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other- that is, when they are not
killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People
undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks
believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common Language and literature; and they
worshipped the same Gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia,
threatened their liberty. ! Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local
patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. “E. Pluribus Unum”
— from many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the ‘Pluribus’ instead of the
‘Unum,’ we will balkanize America assuredly as Kosovo.”
“Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything
against the cult of ‘diversity.’ I would find a word similar to ‘heretic’ in the 16th century – that
stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like ‘racist’ or ‘xenophobe’ halt discussion and
debate. Having made America a bi-lingual/bicultural country, having established multiculturalism, having
the large foundations fund the doctrine of ‘victimology,’ I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.”
In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed.
Finally he said, “Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis’s book “Mexifornia.” His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don’t read that book.”
There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every
attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was
proceeding methodically, quietly, da! rkly, yet pervasively across the United States today.
Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system
and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing
as we celebrate ‘diversity.’ American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations
create a Third World in America – take note of California and other states – to date, ten million
illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell’s book “1984.” In that story,
three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and
“Ignorance is strength.”
Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation
and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don’t get this
immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy
everything in its path especially The American Dream. If you care for and love our country as I
do, take the time to pass this on just as I did for you.
NOTHING is exactly what will happen if you don’t!
[ Author of the book ‘Mexifornia’ is Victor Davis Hanson ]
https://www.truthorfiction.com/lamm/
Demand, demand, demand…..
And if you oppose this, you are probably an evil , racist, sexist, homophobic “Nazi” who deserves to be hunted down, doxed and fired from your job.
Where do these people get these cockeyed ideas??? Maybe they should pick up a dictionary AND a couple of history books??!!?? They are more than stupid.