Keeping The Fighting Sioux name

Change is definitely in the air in Obama’s America. In a surprising development, two Lakota (Sioux) reservations are dragging the University of North Dakota through court in an effort to force them to keep their hockey team’s name, The Fighting Sioux.

Members of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe and the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota say they feel the name is a tribute to the storied martial history of the Lakota people. “I am full blood and I grew up on this reservation,” said Eunice Davidson, 57, who wore a Fighting Sioux sweatshirt recently. “I have to tell you, I am very, very honoured that they would use the name.”

Tribal member Frank Black Cloud added, “When you hear them announce the name at the start of a hockey game, it gives you goose bumps. They are putting us up on a pinnacle.”

Still, other Native Americans claim the name and logo demean the Lakota people. “To do what they’re doing, you’re more or less selling out,” said Frank Sage, a Navajo, who is one of about 400 American Indian students at the university and one who claims the Lakota are just being used.

Accusations are flying like the arrows and bullets at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The members from Spirit Lake behind the lawsuit assert that Indians opposed to the Fighting Sioux name are from other tribes and are jealous of Sioux notoriety. The opponents counter that this claim is “absurd”.

Now, university representatives find themselves stuck between two fighting Native groups. There is no word on what the name of the hockey team would be if the name The Fighting Sioux were dropped. Perhaps The Litigious Lakota should be considered. It’s better than the Redskins, but still not as catchy as the Fighting Irish.

From the rattle of the battle, a reality check is sounded by Black Cloud, “An end to the nickname will not soothe relations between white North Dakotans and American Indians.”