Feb. 22: "The Chief"

Is it a step toward equality, or a pointless knee-jerk that’ll bring nothing?

Wednesday, under significant pressure from the NCAA, the University of Illinois ended an 81-year tradition.

If the university wanted to host events like lucrative regional tournaments, it had to put a stop to The Chief.

The Chief in question is Chief Illiniwek, who since 1926 has performed during halftime of Illini basketball, football and other official Illinois-sanctioned sporting events. And he wasn’t the only one. 16 other schools using mascots deemed “patently offensive,” like the Florida State Seminoles or the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, were told to change their nickname or never host a postseason game again.

And even though Chief Illiniwek is a tradition, and not an official mascot, Illinois’ board of trustees chose to fold to pressure from the NCAA and student and activist groups. The Chief’s last dance was last night, when the Illini beat Michigan.

Never mind that a pro football team and about 75 high schools across the country continue to use the term “Redskins” as a mascot, and several hundred use Braves, Indians or some other Native American-related theme. Didn’t matter. The Chief had to go.

The argument is that some fool in a headdress banging a drum and going “Hey-ya, Hey-ya,” at random is akin to me putting on blackface, talking in an ersatz accent, and dancing some soft shoe.

It’s not meant to honor or celebrate the culture. It’s ignorant, foolish and offensive. I’d kick my own rear — and face — if I did that.

But is that what the Chief means? For that matter, is that what any mascot is supposed to mean?

Certainly not if it’s like most. For instance, Tracy High chose to go with “Bulldogs” in the 1920s — about the same time the Illini chose The Chief — because it sounded tough and intimidating, not because the student body wanted to make fun of dogs. No dog owners I know of complain, and fine institutions like Yale and Fresno State have called themselves the Bulldogs without a problem for years.

With West, it was even more democratic. When the school was built, the incoming freshman and sophomore classes elected to go with Wolf Pack, choosing it over similarly wild names like Timberwolves. Not to make fun of Wolves — but because the school wanted to be called the Wolf Pack.

And it’s probably true that The Chief wasn’t borne out of racism or ignorance — at least not intentionally. An Eagle Scout based the dance and costume on his studies while in the Scouts, and the current costume and headdress were sold to the university by an actual chief of another tribe. Again, not because he hated American Indians, but because he wanted something “cool” for his school.

I suppose the issue in question is if the mascot refers to a living group of people who don’t appreciate having their image used in that way. But for some reason, this only seems to happen with native-themed names.

For instance, I have yet to see someone of Swedish or Norwegian descent complain about Edison High using a hairy white guy with a shield and a sword to depict their Vikings (I personally prefer what the wrestling team prints on their shirts: “The Soulvikes”).

Likewise, no one from the Catholic Church has said much about the University of San Francisco Dons or the Providence College Friars.

For The Chief’s supporters, the flap is even more maddening because those protesting aren’t Illiniwek. The Seminole Nation, still alive and well in Florida despite Andrew Jackson’s best eradication efforts, gave Florida State the OK. But the Illiniwek Confederacy was, like most Native tribes, scattered to the four winds after a series of wars, treaties and broken treaties and relocated to Oklahoma.

The Peoria tribe is the closest living relative, and this is what one of their real chiefs, Ron Froman, had to say about Chief Illiniwek in 2000:

"I don't know what the origination was, or what the reason was for the university to create Chief Illiniwek. I don't think it was to honor us, because, hell, they ran our (butts) out of Illinois."

And that’s the kicker. For some, Chief Illiniwek was a harmless dance and tradition, something fun and original to know Illinois by. But there he is at a Western university, with schools and fields and buildings built on what was at one point tribal land. The reason why there’s a football field in Champaign-Urbana — or anywhere in the U.S. — begins with war, thievery and oppression.

The United States’ history with native tribes is a long, sad story. It’s clear that there’s still a lot of healing left to be done. And if removing a painful reminder of what used to be is the first step, tradition or no, then so be it.