Home
Forums
New Posts
Illini Basketball
Illini Football
Sports Talk
Log in
Register
What's new
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Sports
Sports Talk
War Chant has been retired
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="sbillini" data-source="post: 1326044" data-attributes="member: 10496"><p>This one's an interesting one. I was at UofI during the peak of the chief controversy (graduated in 06). It was definitely an interesting time. But, my perspective is simple:</p><p></p><p>1. There's a difference between honoring a people/culture, valuing it, and furthering it vs. creating your own culture around it with the pretense that you're honoring it. With chief Illiniwek, I felt you couldn't truly honor the Illini tribe given that the Chief was primarily derived from the Peoria tribe (since the Illini didn't exist anymore). Further, even the Peoria didn't support the chief (granted, there's viable question as to if that matters per me previous point). As a minority born in another country, I'm totally OK with people portraying my culture in a respectful way that does so with a reasonable amount of authenticity and is in good faith. If not, I'd rather you not do anything at all.</p><p></p><p>2. In the case of the chant, I don't think the chant is trying to honor or portray the illini tribe. It's a song with no direct reference to any particular native american culture. Yes it sounds "stereotypical" native american, but every song in the world has roots in other types of music. There's no pretense here, so there's nothing to really question beyond does it serve its intended purpose. It may not do so on third downs, but that's not a reason to retire it. </p><p></p><p>Now, will banning the song cause me to stop my monthly donation to the school and make it (very slightly) more difficult for future generations to receive the quality education I got from UofI? Particularly since those ahead of me gave that allowed me to do the same is just ridiculous. I agree that the chant is part of a cultural identify of the school (or at least the athletic program), and the school hasn't done a good job of repairing that identity, but that's fixable, folks. And picking up the soccer ball and running home kicking and screaming, while it may be effective to some degree if enough people do it, isn't the best solution.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="sbillini, post: 1326044, member: 10496"] This one's an interesting one. I was at UofI during the peak of the chief controversy (graduated in 06). It was definitely an interesting time. But, my perspective is simple: 1. There's a difference between honoring a people/culture, valuing it, and furthering it vs. creating your own culture around it with the pretense that you're honoring it. With chief Illiniwek, I felt you couldn't truly honor the Illini tribe given that the Chief was primarily derived from the Peoria tribe (since the Illini didn't exist anymore). Further, even the Peoria didn't support the chief (granted, there's viable question as to if that matters per me previous point). As a minority born in another country, I'm totally OK with people portraying my culture in a respectful way that does so with a reasonable amount of authenticity and is in good faith. If not, I'd rather you not do anything at all. 2. In the case of the chant, I don't think the chant is trying to honor or portray the illini tribe. It's a song with no direct reference to any particular native american culture. Yes it sounds "stereotypical" native american, but every song in the world has roots in other types of music. There's no pretense here, so there's nothing to really question beyond does it serve its intended purpose. It may not do so on third downs, but that's not a reason to retire it. Now, will banning the song cause me to stop my monthly donation to the school and make it (very slightly) more difficult for future generations to receive the quality education I got from UofI? Particularly since those ahead of me gave that allowed me to do the same is just ridiculous. I agree that the chant is part of a cultural identify of the school (or at least the athletic program), and the school hasn't done a good job of repairing that identity, but that's fixable, folks. And picking up the soccer ball and running home kicking and screaming, while it may be effective to some degree if enough people do it, isn't the best solution. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Sports
Sports Talk
War Chant has been retired
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…