MH - Let's Have a Pow-Wow Over Banning Indian Nicknames

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep better at night knowing that the NCAA, in the face of increasing drug problems, steroid abuse, grade cheating, bribery, alumni kickbacks, falling graduation rates, and rising crime rates for college athletes - including rape, armed robbery, assault, and any number of other checkmarks on the police blotter - has made the monumental decision to ban the use of Indian logos and nicknames by schools during NCAA postseason playoff games.

Whew. I don't know how we were able to survive without that. I expect things to improve immediately.

This kind of politically correct crap is so much of what is wrong with this culture. And it should hardly be a surprise that a ruling like this is coming from college presidents - not only are college campuses the hotbed of this kind of nonsense, it's also the place where, as Rush Limbaugh might put it, young skulls are being filled with this kind of mush. No, I'm not surprised at all.

Not all college presidents thought this was a good idea, thankfully:

Florida State President T.K. Wetherell threatened to take legal action after the ruling. "That the NCAA would now label our close bond with the Seminole people as culturally 'hostile and abusive' is both outrageous and insulting," Wetherell said in a written statement.

"I intend to pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this unacceptable decision is overturned, and that this university will forever be associated with the 'unconquered' spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida."

But I'm afraid there's not much hope for this smidgen of common sense. Check out this telling segment of the story:

Florida State has received permission from the Seminole tribe in Florida to use the nickname. The NCAA, however, made its decision based on a different standard.

"Other Seminole tribes are not supportive," said Charlotte Westerhaus, the NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion.

OK, pray tell me this: what does an organization responsible for college athletics need with a vice president for diversity and inclusion? Presumably, this position has some kind of a dotted-line relationship to the vice president for investigation into sexual assults of women, the vice president in charge of drug-related abuse therapy, or the vice-president overseeing perjury, gambling, and point-shaving scandals.

It reminds me of nothing so much as the classes nowadays that use examples of poverty, homelessness, or racial inclusiveness in their math questions. Again, should we be surprised that all this garbage comes from our so-called "education" providers?

Of course, one of the special interest groups lobbying the NCAA was Vernon Bellecourt, president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media. Bellecort has a long history of this kind of gadfly activity, including protested the Cleveland baseball team's use of its Indians nickname during the 1997 World Series. (Side note: until recently, our beloved hometown paper, the Star Tribune, banned the use of Indian names when reporting sports stories, which was not only awkward but an excellent example of the MSM's editorial censorship when it comes to covering events.)

It might also be of interest that this same Vernon Bellecort, in April of this year, spoke at the Third Annual International Convention of Al-Awda, The Palestinian Right to Return Coalition. A little Googling brought up just one example of Al-Awda's political agenda:

Al Awda's founding statement, a largely incoherent indictment of "Zionist apartheid, racism, and settler-colonialism in Palestine," also defends Palestinian terrorism, arguing that "the Palestinian resistance is justified by natural principles of liberty and international laws protecting such liberties." This is a consistent theme within the group. In 2003, Al-Awda issued a statement pledging its "support for the struggle of the Palestinian people, currently spearheaded by the Intifada." Lest there be any confusion about the form of "resistance" Al-Awda members had in mind, the group also called for the release of Palestinian terrorists, whom it termed "political prisoners," from Israeli and Palestinian jails.

If you needed to know any more, how about this: Bellecort, upon meeting Yassar Arafat for the first time, said, “We are the Palestinians and you are us.” So now at least we know a little more about Vernon Bellecort and his political agenda. Again, considering the anti-Israeli atmosphere prevalent on so many college campuses, should we be surprised that the NCAA would give in to some clown like this?

Ah, the state of education in this country. Political correctness, diversity police, anti-Israeli groups. And this is just the athletic department. You'll hear a lot of left pundits applaud the decision of the NCAA - I just heard it from a couple of commentators on ESPN.

Even during the darkest days of protest on college campuses, the Vietnam era takeovers of administrative buildings, the shootings at Kent State, you could at least look forward to normal competition on the gridiron or the hardwood. Sadly, even that isn't possible nowadays.