Moniker gets mixed reactions on reservations
Nickname, not logo, center of debate at Standing Rock Indian Reservation

By Josh Roiland
Dakota Student Staff Writer

FORT YATES, N.D. -- Sandy and Jody Luger sat in the backroom of their White Buffalo Super Valu on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during a mid-morning break Monday. Their conversation wandered aimlessly, as most coffee break chat sessions do. But once the issue of the Fighting Sioux nickname came up, their discourse became focused and direct.

"I don't have anything against it," Sandy said, "but if it is offending people then of course they should change it." His brother, on the other hand, had a more pointed response to the issue:

"The bottom line is when schools or sports teams use Indians as mascots, it's a negative portrayal to the children," he said. "They then grow up thinking that it's okay."

Even though the nickname controversy is something that has been highly contested in the Grand Forks area over the past couple years, both men, Lakota tribal members, said that it is not widely talked about here, some 350 miles southwest of UND. And when that discussion does take place, opinions are not exactly uniform „ even in their own grocery store.

"I don't think it's a big deal," said Linda Kidder, a cashier at the store. "It's just a name. If they change it then people will whine about something else. They should just leave it."

Though the degrees of acceptance of the Fighting Sioux moniker varied, all three were adamant that a concern should be there if the name is being used by UND or other universities in a negative manner.

"I have a problem with non-Indians trying to portray themselves as Native," Sandy said. "Like the tomahawk chop, that's demeaning."

The differing feelings at the White Buffalo seemed to be a microcosm of the entire town's sentiments.

At the Standing Rock Community School, Superintendent Terry Yellow Fat, who is a 1976 graduate of UND, said that the proximity of the town from Grand Forks plays a big role in the silence here.

"You'll find people here that are on both sides of the issue," he said. "But the ones that have no problem with it aren't aware of the problems our children are having up there."

Yellow Fat echoed many of the sentiments that are expressed by opponents of the nickname in Grand Forks. He didn't understand why the Native population held the distinction of being the only ethnic group inspiring nicknames.

"What other race of people are characterized this way?" he said. "Why us?"

High School nicknames

Supporters of the Fighting Sioux moniker here point to the number of reservation schools which continue to use traditional 'Indian' names as their mascots. There is no better example than at the Standing Rock High School, just outside of town, where they dub themselves the Warriors.

According to the school's principal Tim Krahler, however, the name Warriors doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation. "In Lakota the word for Warrior also means legislator, hunter and provider," he said. "It also stands for the struggles against bigotry that Indians have to battle through to this day."

But what about names like "Chiefs" and "Braves" that adorn athletic uniforms at other schools?

According to the Luger brothers it is their right to call themselves whatever they please; a right, they say, that should not be afforded to people outside of their heritage.

Jody Luger, however, does believe that reservation high schools should start changing their nicknames to more generic titles in order to put political pressure on universities and professional sports teams to follow suit.

"If the Indian schools donÍt change their names nothing will ever get done," he said. "We shouldn't have to, but if they really want things to change they need to."

Aside from the nickname at his high school, Krahler said the Fighting Sioux issue isn't one that is highly discussed at his school, again because it doesn't directly affect them. But there was one problem he saw among the teenagers at his school, which had somewhat of a correlation to being labeled.

"The kids really don't know who they are," he said. "But they know what they are."

Standing Rock H.S. has sent several students to UND, some of whom have been vocal in their opposition to the name. But, Krahler said, the name hasnÍt created any cleavages in prospective students considering UND as a viable college choice.

The logo

Despite the dichotomy of viewpoints that surfaced in this town one thing that people could seem to agree upon was that the issue at hand was not the new logo, which was unveiled at UND over a month ago.

"(The logos) don't make any difference to me," Sandy said. "It's the name that's offensive."

His employee, Kidder, took those comments one step further. "I think the picture is cool," she said. The contrast is easily visible in the town's only supermarket.

But why?

Jody Luger thought he knew.

"It's a generational thing," he said. "Older Indians are more connected to the reservation and are willing to do things the white man's way. The younger people are more quickly offended because they don't go back that far."

This may be so.

It's definitely something that will be talked about in many more back rooms over many more cups of morning coffee.