The Chief
Letter

Stereotyping is racism

Letter | The Daily Illini
Published Wednesday, April 28, 2004

In a pro-Chief letter on Monday, April 26, Joel Carter complains that anti-Chief agitators show only ignorance when they say that the Chief is a stereotype. Carter contends that "no one believes the Chief represents any or all Native Americans." He smugly concludes that anti-Chief forces should look in a dictionary under "s."

Carter should read the real world, or, barring that, the Daily Illini. There he would see, in the pro-Chief letter by Jason Briski printed right above his, that the Chief is commonly described as a way of "celebrating the Native Americans for their courage, bravery and tough nature." Yes, Mr. Carter, plenty of your fellow Chief supporters engage in hapless generalizations about how the Chief represents "the Native Americans." And that, my friend, is a stereotype, by any definition.

John Randolph

University employee