[todeen]

Originally Posted by JustinD

My first wife was native Chippewa, and as such my son is native and a member of the tribe as well. I can certainly see the benefit of reaching out to local tribes to establish relationships but not erasing Indian imagery in some misguided white savior move. I spent his childhood at tribal events to build his knowledge of culture with powwows and celebrating the traditions.

Originally Posted by packs

Am I the only one who finds it ironic when people say things like "changing the team name erases Native American culture".

Erasing Native American culture has been government sanctioned since there was a government to put those policies into place. Advocates for protecting the culture should be concerned with protections outside of professional sports names. There's a lot more good that can be done if you're interested in getting involved.

If you, your wife, or son are interested in Native American history classes, I found these classes on Native American history to be really interesting. I took these to renew my teaching certificate in WA State. They try to be a survey of history across the entire US; but in each hour they zoom in on a particular story. They are $40 each, each including something like 10-15 hours of college professor seminars. They are produced by Gilder Lehrman which works closely with the AP US History program. The Case Studies is taught by a professor at Dartmouth, and the Recasting one is taught by a Native American professor at Yale. I liked the Case Studies one better - I thought the professor was a bit more organized - but they are both good. The last two/three hours in each course try to focus on 20th century changes that try to explain current lobbying by tribes around the country. The professors also make distinctions how tribes in the Northeast have a very different relationship with state governments than tribes in the Midwest, or Tribes in the West. They also try to discuss the ebb and flow of support or lack of support by the Supreme Court. Each class also lightly covers the Civil Rights Era activism by Native Americans - such as occupying Alcatraz.

Case Studies: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/node/500051/spc

Recasting: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/node/500052/spc