Honolulu Lite
These fightin’ words
have no punchA Colorado college intramural basketball team, which named itself "The Fightin' Whites" in protest over the use of American Indian caricatures by sports teams, is trying to figure out why its satire has backfired and Caucasians across the country are buying up the "Fightin' Whites" logo T-shirts.
I think I can help. What you've done, guys, is inadvertently prove what many people have been saying for years about sports team names: They are not supposed to be symbols of derision and prejudice, but symbols of inspiration and admiration.
When someone as politically correct as Jane Fonda does the "tomahawk chop" with the crowd at an Atlanta Braves baseball game, you have to assume she's either a raving hypocrite or she honestly believes that calling a baseball team "Braves" somehow honors Native Americans. (Personally, I always went with the hypocrisy explanation, but since my Dad fought and got shot at in Vietnam, I'm a tad prejudiced against "Hanoi Jane.")
Native American students at the University of Northern Colorado are upset that a local high school's team is named "Reds." So a college basketball team made up of Native Americans, Hispanics and Anglos, named their team "The Fightin' Whites." Now they apparently are surprised to find that a lot of "whites" are OK with that. The only reason sports teams have never named themselves the "Fightin' Whites" is because they would have been called racists. The closest anyone has come are the Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" and the Boston Celtics, whose majority of team members appears neither Irish nor Celtic.
The fact is, team names are supposed to fire up and inspire pride in players and supporters, while also commanding respect and a certain amount of fear from opponents. (A team called the "Disgruntled Dust Mites" just won't do it.)
My high school team was the Aiea Alii, "alii" meaning Hawaiian royalty. I may have been a skinny, white, sunburned second-rate tennis player, but I was proud to be an Alii. Naming our teams after the Hawaiian royal class was a sign of respect. I doubt we would have been so proud to be called the Aiea Maka'ainana (commoners) or the Aiea 'Iole-manakuke Mahi'ai (mongoose farmers).
The University of Hawaii football team recently changed its name from "Rainbows" to "Warriors" mainly, I suppose, because you never see a rainbow kick butt.
I think the Colorado students are mistaken if they think "The Fightin' Whites" is an offensive stereotype of Caucasians. "Cringin' Whites," "Whinin' Whites" or "Whimperin' Whites," now those would hurt. But that's just because of the insulting modifiers.
Atlanta loves its Braves, Boston loves its Celtics and Aiea loves its Alii. Let's not confuse terms of endearment with cultural and racial put-downs.
Charles Memminger, winner of National Society of Newspaper Columnists awards, appears Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. E-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com