Eunice Davidon weighs in on the Redskins name

#461034231 / gettyimages.com

If you haven’t seen this article over on sayanythingblog, it’s worth a look. Eunice Davidon weighs in on the Redskins name and she has some very interesting points. Davidson is an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Nation.

A CNN reporter stated that 30% of Native Americans are offended by the names and logos, but what about the 70% of us who support and take pride in those names and images? Don’t we count for anything? Other independent surveys have found 80 to 90% support names and images. Sports Illustrated and Attenburg Election Survey among others have found this to be true. They don’t have a dog in the fight, so we put more stock in them.

But even 70 percent is a large number.

The US Patent Office for 80 years has recognized the Redskins as legitimate and not hostile, what has changed? They also found the UND Fighiting Sioux logo and nickname – also trademarked – to not to be not hostile. The Patent Office is supposed to follow the law, not political agendas. And this is political agenda.

Is it Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed with way too much power that has caused this? He has used that power to divide, not unite?

It is none of his business and we ask him to quit speaking over us Indians, as if he were a God. Harry Reid’s comments towards the Redskin name are nothing new from corrupt politicians. Politicians have always used a small handful of Native Americans to achieve their personal agenda and goals. If he really cared about us, he would talk to all Native Americans, not just those that fit his agenda.

Here’s a point that doesn’t get discussed very often. What about the Native American that take great pride in Native Americans logos and aren’t offended by the names and logos? There are quite a few out there. Do we just discount and ignore them?

I don’t know, I don’t think so.

If 70% of the Native Americans aren’t offended by the sports teams that use Native American names and logos that means a majority of Native Americans aren’t offended. What are we suppose to glean from that?

I predict that there’s going to be great pressure on teams that use Native American nicknames and imagery very soon. I see it coming. It’s just a matter of time before the pressure is on the Blackhawks, Seminoles, Chippewa’s and Utes to change their names and logos. It’s coming. Mark it down.

Poll on Ballot Measure four, 59 percent will vote yes.

Someone posted this link over on Sioux Sports. This week there are four state wide ballot measures during the primary for North Dakota voters to vote on. One of the more emotionally heated issues is Ballot Measure four on whether the University of North Dakota's sports teams will remain the Fighting Sioux or not. A "Yes" vote means you that you want University of North Dakota to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname. A "No" vote means that you want University of North Dakota to retain the Fighting Sioux nickname.

Posted above is a screen shot of the Ballot Measure 4 polling numbers. A state wide poll was conducted by a national polling firm, Mason-Dixon during last week. It would appear that the Yes vote on ballot measure four has almost 60 percent of the vote, but we will wait and see how Tuesday's vote turns out.  A lot of things can happen and it would be interesting to see how they conducted their poll on. Polls conducted on likely voters are more accurate than a simple poll of potential voters.

Based on the numbers it would appear that women voters are more in favor of a the University of North Dakota dropping the Fighting Sioux nickname than men; Republicans seem to be more in favor of UND retaining the Fighting Sioux nickname than Democrats and Independants.

Related articles

• Herald - UND coaches will tour state to talk nickname

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• Idalski - Recruits' concern real.

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• Earl Strinden, Grand Forks, letter: 'Yes' on 4 to protect UND

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• (Video) Vote Yes on Measure 4

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• You can wear your Sioux jersey to the polls

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UPDATE - Measure number 4 ballot

In case you were wondering, this what the ballot  for the state wide referendum on UND's use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo will look like on the June 12th Primary Election Ballot.

There has been some question about how the ballot will be written, this is straight from today's Grand Forks Herald.

“Referendum Measure No. 4
“This referendum measure concerns Senate Bill 2370 as passed by the Legislative Assembly in the November 2011 special session (Session Laws, Chapter 580). Senate Bill 2370 repealed section 15-10-46 of the North Dakota Century Code, which required the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

“YES — means you approve Senate Bill 2370, the effect of which would allow the University of North Dakota to discontinue the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

“NO — means you reject Senate Bill 2370, and would require the University of North Dakota to use the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.”

VOTER REGISTRATION 

Registration Deadline: North Dakota does not require some form of voter registration. Each precinct has a list of residents who voted in previous elections. If a voter's name is on the list, he provides valid form identification, and his address can be verified, then he may vote.

Party Affiliation: North Dakota has open primaries, which means that on primary day, a voter is free to choose any party’s primary, but once having made that choice, the voter is confined to voting in the primary of just one party.

QUALIFICATIONS 

Age: Must be at least 18 years old on Election Day

Citizenship: Must be a United States citizen

Residency: Must be a legal resident of North Dakota and a resident in the precinct for 30 days preceding the election

Related articles

• So is the Fighting Sioux nickname on the way back (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Fighting Sioux nickname supporters tell ND Supreme Court that 1969 ceremony precludes 'civil interference' (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Developing - NDSC rules against NDBoHE (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• They aren't listening - Fighting Sioux nickname (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Fighting Sioux nickname supporters file petitions with 17,000 signatures (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

UND and the Big Sky: Who said what, when?



Big Sky Conference logo

 This is beginning to sound a lot like "What did you know and when did you know it?" To me it's also beginning to resemble a Charlie Foxtrot. I wonder what would happen if Al Carlson found out one of the University Presidents from the state of North Dakota had undermined the process?

Chuck Haga, Grand Forks Herald ---- Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, used North Dakota open records law last week to obtain emails between UND President Robert Kelley, the Big Sky Conference and the NCAA since Jan. 1, apparently seeking to learn whether Kelley was working behind the scenes to counter Carlson’s efforts to save the Fighting Sioux nickname.

The Herald also obtained the emails, one of which indicates that Kelley knew about a letter coming from the Big Sky warning that the nickname issue could “destroy” Division I athletics at UND.

Through a spokesman, Kelley denied again Tuesday that he sought the Big Sky statement.

Carlson, the House majority leader and author of a new state law requiring UND to continue using the Fighting Sioux name and logo in defiance of NCAA policy and scheduled sanctions, has raised questions about Kelley’s role in the controversy.

Objecting last week to Kelley’s calling for repeal of the nickname law — while Carlson was trying to arrange a meeting with NCAA officials to press the state’s case for retaining it — the legislative leader said “the well has been poisoned many times by people at the university, setting us up for failure.”

He also suggested last week that Kelley or others at UND encouraged Big Sky leaders to issue their warning about the potentially dire consequences of allowing the conflict with the NCAA to continue.

Carlson, visiting Medora, N.D., with his wife, said Tuesday he has received the emails “but I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet. I’ll do that when I get home.

“I just want to see what the communications were between those folks,” he said. “There might be nothing there. But I’m still convinced a lot of this was set up for failure, and I’m not in favor of that.”

Going forward with President Kelley...

This is beginning to become a friggen side show… To quote Charlie Harper from Two and a Half Men,” I have a bad feeling about this.” It almost appears that nothing good can come out of this fight going forward. On one hand I am sick and tired of being lectured by a Left Coast Liberal that was educated at University of California Berkley (yeah that one, the bastion of liberal thinking)... I also don't need him to tell us what is good for the University North Dakota, it’s like we are a bunch of unwashed rubes.

This is the same University president that has never attended, nor has any emotional attachment to the University of North Dakota or the Fighting Sioux nickname, if anything he has seen the Fighting Sioux nickname as an annoyance or an impediment to UND’s future… I mean think about this; if President Kelley is the university president that's on board, when the Fight Sioux nickname is discarded to the scrap heap of history, President Kelley would immediately be knighted to rock star status among like minded folk (that's the out of touch p.c. do gooders). So I don't really think it’s a stretch to say that President Kelley’s only attachment to the University of North Dakota is a pay check; a very large one I might add, according to the Fargo Forum Kelley makes $330,158 per year.

Unwinnable fight...

On the other hand, I don’t think this is going to be a winnable fight, I am not capitulating, however, I can’t see the NCAA moving one bit on this issue, the NCAA is run by likeminded people that resemble UND President Robert O. Kelley. I have also seen where many of the legal minds say that UND has no standing, nor a snowballs chance in hell of being able to sue the NCAA in court again because they already signed a settlement with the NCAA.

I also think keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname could affect UND’s athletic departments going forward, there is no way in hell that I am going to watch UND and the University of Sioux Falls play in football. I will however attend a football game between UND and any of the Big Sky Schools. I also think that we won’t be able to see the University of North Dakota whoop the Gophers or the Badgers in hockey if the University of North Dakota retains the Fighting Sioux nickname.

I am going to go on record and say I don’t like this one bit and again I am not surrendering but I don’t see a way this works out… I don’t see any other way this ends for the University of North Dakota can keep the Fighting Sioux nickname without facing sanctions from the NCAA… I truly believe that Al Carlson and the UND delegation will go to their meeting with the NCAA and they will tell them that their stance on the nickname is not going to change.

I will also predict that the NCAA doesn’t care what the UND delegation will have to say on this matter, because their minds have already been made up, it doesn't matter to them if them that the Standing Rock Tribal council is “not allowing” their people to have a vote on the measure. In the end it also won’t matter that the Spirit Lake Tribe endorsed UND’s use of the Fighting Sioux nickname, the name thing the NCAA will say is that the University of North Dakota only got one of the two Sioux Tribes to approve the Fighting Sioux nickname. In the end UND will end up changing the Fighting Sioux nickname or risk not being a member in the Big Sky conference.

Fighting Sioux nickname bill on Senate's Friday lineup

Looks like there is going to be a vote on the Fighting Sioux logo and nickname. Preliminary reports show that an unofficial poll taken show more than 50% Of North Dakota Senators Supporting Fighting Sioux Nickname.

BISMARCK — The Fighting Sioux nickname and logo issue is listed on Friday’s North Dakota Senate voting lineup.

Just because the bill is on the calendar is not a guarantee that it will be voted on tomorrow. At least three senators will not be present because they are away on state business.

House Bill 1263 states UND athletic teams shall be known as the Fighting Sioux. Neither UND nor the state Board of Higher Education may take action to discontinue the use of the nickname or logo.

It requires the attorney general to consider filing a federal antitrust claim against the NCAA if the association takes any action to penalize UND for using the nickname and logo.