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Tim Giago: Still fighting 'Indian' mascots, ignorance and racism
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 Notes from Indian Country
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
© 2012 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. Twenty years ago I was on the Oprah Winfrey Show with Michael Haney and Suzanne Harjo to talk about the use of Native Americans as mascots for America’s fun and games. It was the first time in television history that a major talk show allowed Native Americans to openly discuss why we do not appreciate our use as mascots for sports teams. I believe that tape is still available through Harpo Productions if anyone wants to see what happened on that show. In the ensuing years no other major network has found the topic interesting enough to pursue. After all, the mascot issue affects only a very small and politically weak segment of the U.S. population and there are those dissenters even among the Indian people who defend this nefarious practice. Full STory: http://www.indianz.com/News/2012/007190.asp
Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association and the founder and publisher of Indian Country Today, the Lakota Times, and the Dakota/Lakota Journal. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com
Tim Giago: Still fighting 'Indian' mascots, ignorance and racism
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 Notes from Indian Country
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
© 2012 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. Twenty years ago I was on the Oprah Winfrey Show with Michael Haney and Suzanne Harjo to talk about the use of Native Americans as mascots for America’s fun and games. It was the first time in television history that a major talk show allowed Native Americans to openly discuss why we do not appreciate our use as mascots for sports teams. I believe that tape is still available through Harpo Productions if anyone wants to see what happened on that show. In the ensuing years no other major network has found the topic interesting enough to pursue. After all, the mascot issue affects only a very small and politically weak segment of the U.S. population and there are those dissenters even among the Indian people who defend this nefarious practice. Full STory: http://www.indianz.com/News/2012/007190.asp
Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association and the founder and publisher of Indian Country Today, the Lakota Times, and the Dakota/Lakota Journal. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com