I really enjoyed all of the literature samples Claire brought into class this week.  It was refreshing to see some African American literature that was positive and uplifting.  Sometimes it seems like there are too many slave narratives and sad stories and not enough happy and positive literature.  Langston Hughes is always one of my favorites.  His poetry has inspired me to write some of my own a couple of times.  He gets across a very deep message in simple forms.  It is an easy style to mimic.  Other African American samples from class were quite different from Hughes, however.  I can't remember the author, but the story that had no pictures and it told the story of slave passage to America.  I am not sure if I would use this book in my class just because of how graphic some of the illustrations were.  They could raise some awkward questions and disturb parents at home.  The book was very good at bringing out emotions and feelings from deep inside, it may be a little too graphic for a fourth grade classroom.

I'm not sure what question the blog for this week is talking about.  Something about what our group discussed, and the last group discussion I remember having was the insider/outsider debate.  But, I wrote about that last week so, as a favor to you the reader, I'll try to avoid all redundancy.  Now all I need to do is think up another question to pose and then answer.  (dramatic pause...)  I got nothing.  But, I was thinking last week about the video from week three about the native American issues.  I kinda wish we would have had time to talk about it in class because I had a couple points to make.  

Now, I can't help but feel a little guilty and alone in my opinions on the topic.  Well, as least within our limited learning community of which I am the only apparent non-caucasian female.  All that aside, the video was talking about the disrespect and pain that native Americans felt as a result of mascots that portrayed native Americans.  The Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, and the Illinois Fighting Illini were among some of the mentioned teams.  There seemed to be quite a few native Americans that were deeply offended by the names and they were also very upset with the inaccuracies.  One woman in particular at the University of Illinois took it upon herself to protest the school's right to use the Illini as their mascot.  To this day, however, the university maintains their logo and they are refusing to change it.

And I support their decision.

Before you start sending hate mail and death threats, let me just say that I can't get behind every mascot with a native American reference.  Although I personally have never heard it used, I have it on good authority that redskin was a derogatory term used towards native Americans.  I hear that and it immediately brings to mind ideas of the Houston honkeys or the New Jersey Niggers.  So, what I want to put out there first and foremost is that mascots with blatantly hateful resonance should be done away with or at least separated from the masses.  But as for the Cleveland Indians and the Fighting Illini, I still need to speak.  

It may sound like I am making a lot of disclaimers (and I am), but this is a new issue to me and I am still learning a lot.  These are just my initial reactions and opinions.  But now down to business.  I think of the Dallas Cowboys first.  The cowboy is an American icon.  They are a part of society still today.  Across the country, you can find people who consider themselves cowboys and who live the cowboy lifestyle.  Why aren't they offended when Dallas takes the field every Sunday?  Football has nothing to do with wrangling steers and branding cattle.  It cannot give people a sense of what it is like to ranch for a living and the back breaking labor that goes into a cattle ranch.  But still, I have never heard of people protesting the mascot.  The Duke Blue Devils and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  These are just a couple of mascots in the NCAA that use demonic or satanic mascots to represent their teams and schools.  Satanism and devil worshipping is a practice of people (albeit a small portion of people) in this country.  What should we do when they protest the names of every school with a satanic mascot?  Should the satanists not be heard as loudly as the native Americans?  I have been raised Christian and would never consider worshipping a devil in my own life, but that doesn't mean that another group doesn't.  What if the Greek community protested the use of Spartans, a Greek culture from days long past, because they didn't like the way Michigan State University represented them.  Or what about the Minutemen of Massachusetts, could they be interpreted as disrespecting American history?  

Almost any mascot that isn't an animal, plant, or machine could potentially offend someone.  The issue of where to draw the line is one that is very blurred to me, but I am more worried that censorship of one will lead to censorship of many.  Who is going to decide which groups of people are offended enough to force change and which are not?  As you probably noticed, I used a lot of questions in this post.  That is not because I think they are necessarily rhetorical and work in favor of my current position on this sensitive subject, I'm looking for other opinions to expand my own.  Honestly.

Holla at ya boy with a post or somethin.  

Peace.