Confrontation with the Natives in the year 2024

Not very subtle

Native Americans may have had the "best light cavalry in the world" when they closed in on Custer's poor troops out West. Have you seen the movie "Son of the Morning Star?" Custer gained great fame posthumously partly because of the efforts of his wife. (The same can be said about General George Pickett of the Civil War.) 

But that aside, do we really wish to admire the Indians' "success" from the Battle of the Little Bighorn? Maybe Native Americans would. I doubt that the European culture of America would be inclined that way. 

I'll just say "war is bad." I grew up during Vietnam. 

So why have sports fans out here on the prairie been subjected to the "Braves" name for so long? It has been the garden variety type of Native American-based high school sports nickname. The Benson school may be claiming that it has tried to "tone it down." They also fall back on how certain Natives in the area had no problem with it. Even approved of it. 

Oh man, just consider basic human psychology. The Natives would not want to be "difficult" about this, would they? They would be aware that the local school authorities were "seeking their help." They'd feel an impulse to be in good standing, not to throw a wet blanket on it. The school could claim "everyone seems good with this." 

 

Look at the trend

People can be wrong. One by one states have been passing laws against the idea of treating Natives like they are mascots. Any cause for this being a big deal? Here in Minnesota with our vernacular, we think in terms of things being a big deal or not being a big deal. Think Marge Gunderson. 

I remember the "Braves" nickname from when I followed our high school sports here in Morris, as Benson might have been our top rival. I also remember the legend of how a lot of the Benson kids were "druggies." I digress. 

Just not defensible

Schools in Minnesota are extremely hard pressed trying to keep vestiges of the old Native American imagery with their sports teams. My take? This is absolutely not a battle worth fighting, but with one exception or one "caveat" to use a trendy word. It probably comes down to money! The Benson school will go to the ends of the Earth to try to keep from spending its own money. Otherwise why on Earth would they try to draw battle lines on this? Why be like Custer? Oh my, might be an impolitic statement. 

(Custer was not that bright, really very vain and pugnacious, and he got away with his faults in the Civil War. You might say his approach "worked until it didn't." It sure didn't.) 

I most certainly understand how school superintendents think. I'm sure the Benson guy rues the day that his school ever adopted "Braves." He's anything but a cheerleader for it, would prefer the school had no "nickname" at all. Such a silly custom at the root of this. If the Benson school ends up wanting to make a statement, they can announce that they have no nickname. 

"We'll be Benson High School. We have a Benson boys basketball team and Benson girls basketball team." Oh and incidentally those basketball teams are doing very poorly. So maybe Benson should work harder to upgrade these programs rather than to keep making a stink with the "Braves" nickname. The nickname impresses no one. It's ridiculous if anyone thinks this is a battle worth waging. Unless it comes down to money. 

Benson wants to toss the matter into the state's court. Hey, the state can get money, sure a lot easier than the local school district can. And if you go higher than that, the Federal government can print money! Best deal possible. The Feds can use deficit spending. Nice work if you can find it. 

Below I share a news tip email I just sent to the Star Tribune of the Twin Cities. 

Good luck to all? Well, Benson has dragged its feet way too long on this. Maybe some of the adults over there are druggies. I will say one thing for Benson: it has always had that nice Dairy Queen on the outskirts of town. Beyond that I think it's a "blah" place.

  

Hi Strib - Looks like Benson High School of western MN has gotten a "no" answer on keeping their Native American imagery/logo. There's a story there I'm sure. Let me just tip you off: these things can come down to money (!). So Benson was never going to do anything pro-active on this, in other words spend their own money. They want money from "the state." Presumably they'll spend their own only when they have to, when hell has frozen over or whatever.

The school adm. has some "spin" prepared like claiming there is some imagery (not all) that has been removed in various places, and that they don't insert the contentious imagery themselves. Well maybe, but the contentious images are still floating around the Internet from past use. Like, I have an image saved in my downloads folder because I sometimes blog about area high school sports. If the "Braves" name were simply eliminated, all the old imagery would become dated and have no value.

It looks like the Native American organizations were not unanimous in deciding on Benson's situation. The way I look at it, Benson had the garden variety Native American nickname and if they get a pass, well then maybe everyone should have gotten a pass.

Good luck.

"Benson Bobcats?" 

"Home of the Braves," Benson MN

 

Addendum: Man, I don't have a prayer trying to guess successfully on spelling of "posthumously."

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com