The Sun Chronicle
FARINELLA: PC police on the offensive
BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Sunday, February 11, 2007
These days, it's so easy—almost too easy—to take an everyday circumstance and twist its meaning so it becomes offensive to somebody. And woe be unto that individual who, in this age of political correctness, dares to "offend" anyone.
For instance, I will probably offend someone with the opinion that I am about to put forth in this column. I'd apologize in advance, but that would defeat the purpose of writing it, because I will never apologize for having an informed opinion and expressing it in a reasonable manner.
My only "apology" is that the thoughts that follow are repeated ones, things I've said before in other columns that need to be expressed again, lest this reprehensible march toward political correctness continue unabated.
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association is currently debating whether its member schools should be allowed to use Native American names, images or symbols as mascots or nicknames for their athletic teams. It's not a new debate, but recent meetings of the MIAA's sportsmanship committee on the topic have indicated that "concern" about the issue is increasing.
But whose concern?
There are, at last count, 46 high schools in Massachusetts that use nicknames that have obvious or not-so-obvious connections to American Indian imagery, and the MIAA was told this week that very few of them have any concerns about the matter whatsoever. Most of the schools who responded to the association's inquiries said that the nicknames were part of the fabric of their communities, and not at all regarded as offensive.
There are three schools within The Sun Chronicle's circulation area with such nicknames. Foxboro, King Philip and Seekonk all use "Warriors" as their team nicknames, and all three use some sort of Indian imagery as their logo—Foxboro uses the currently Indian-head logo of the Washington Redskins, while King Philip and Seekonk both use variations of the Redskins' former spear-and-arrowhead logo on their football helmets.
Indeed, these "concerns" gained the MIAA's attention because the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University has seen fit to involve itself in it. Peter Roby, the executive director of the study group, attended the MIAA's discussions last week and brought with him a veiled threat of legal action to force schools to drop their allegedly offensive nicknames if the MIAA doesn't act.
But again, just who is being offended?
According to 2005 projections that were part of the 2000 U.S. Census, the population of Massachusetts is somewhere around 6,398,743. In that 2000 census, 0.3 percent of those who responded in Massachusetts claimed to be of Native American or Alaskan native descent, or roughly 19,196 individuals—slightly more than the population of the town of Norton.
Maybe it's just me, but I haven't witnessed a groundswell of discontent from among a population group that represents just three-tenths of one percent of the state's population. I've heard occasional complaints, yes—most of the time from out-of-state agitators who are crusading for an outright ban on Native American imagery, many of whom spend their time picketing Redskins' games or decrying the Chief Wahoo symbol of the Cleveland Indians.
And you know what? To some extent, they have a gripe.
As an Italian-American, I certainly wouldn't want to see a pro team named "The Wops," with a pinstriped-suited mobster holding a machine gun in his hands as its logo. But I learned a long time ago not to lose sleep over stereotypes, especially since I'm doing nothing to contribute to them.
Still, since I really don't want to be insensitive to this state's Native American population, I again ask: Who is being offended?
Look around you. "Massachusetts" is an Indian name. Many of our towns, our rivers and lakes and our landmarks carry Indian names. Those who populate the land changed over 400 years, but parts of the original culture remained in place - not just here, but in many other parts of the country as well.
For some of the zealots among the anti-mascot brigade, it seems the only possible solution would be for everybody of non-native descent to pack up and return to their native lands. And since that's not going to happen, someone is going to have to get realistic about the issue.
Outside of a few notable exceptions, I see no evidence that any of the local schools that use Indian-themed nicknames are being disrespectful to anyone or anything. The names are intended to evoke reverence for the bravery and strength of the native peoples—or, they have become so far removed from their roots that they have lost all of their Native American connotations.
Some of our local schools got off the hook many years ago by choosing nicknames that were based in popular culture. Mansfield, for instance, traces its "Green Hornet" roots back to the popular radio serial of the 1940s (later made into a very bad television show in the 1970s).
But if you try hard enough, I suppose you can be offended by anything.
For instance, Attleboro's "Bombardiers" might offend pacifists.
North Attleboro's "Rocketeers" might offend naturalists or conservationists who see technology as the root of all evil. Bishop Feehan's "Shamrocks" might reinforce negative stereotypes about the Irish, Dighton-Rehoboth's "Falcons" might offend Avian-Americans (or Ford owners), Tri-County's Cougars might offend Feline-Americans (or Mercury owners) and so on.
King Philip Regional High might be the worst violator of all, in that the real name of the chief of the Wampanoags, for whom the school district is named, was Metacom. Anyone issuing demands for the district to change its name? Didn't think so.
Of all the issues to be debated in our schools today, this has to be one of the ones that's least worthy of a lot of angst. The sins of 400 years ago just aren't relevant in this argument, and it would seem as if there are plenty of other sportsmanship issues that the MIAA would be better served to address.
To their credit, the officials at the MIAA sportsmanship summit said that they weren't certain they had the authority to issue any edicts regarding school nicknames. But the Northeastern panel may force the issue, and waste valuable taxpayer dollars in the process, by taking the issue to court.
Only in America...
MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at
mfarinel @ thesunchronicle.com