The Chief
Friday Forum

Chief nothing like slavery

Forum | The Daily Illini
Published Friday, April 30, 2004

I have noticed in recent weeks that several of those who oppose the Chief have made the case in the Daily Illini Opinions page that the idea of majority rule does not work for the chief issue. They bring forth the argument that a majority of people supported slavery, Jim Crow laws, segregation and other injustices. They then declare that because of this, a majority vote of the students cannot determine the future of the Chief. First off, I wonder if they would be so quick to discount a student referendum if it had happened to turn out that a majority of the students opposed the Chief. But more importantly, comparing a school mascot to the aforementioned injustices is ludicrous. In those cases, Americans were being denied rights given to other Americans, and in some cases they were denied rights that they were specifically granted in the U.S. Constitution. The Chief does not violate any person's rights. It is clear to me that those who oppose the Chief are genuinely offended by it. That said, it is not stated anywhere in the U.S. or Illinois constitutions that you have the right to not be offended by anything.

I'm sure the next step would be to argue that the Chief is discriminatory, so it therefore violates people's rights against discrimination. However, I would argue that it is people, not symbols, who are racist and discriminatory. If people are violating the rights of others, then they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, regardless of whether the Chief or anything else inspired them to do this. There are obviously people in this world who will discriminate against others for a variety of reasons. These people are the problem behind discrimination, not some logo on a T-shirt or a guy dancing at halftime. They are the ones who should be punished. Why should the majority of us have to part with something that does not offend us simply because certain people are willing to break the law by violating the rights of others? Because a symbol cannot violate someone's rights, the Chief issue most certainly can be settled by a campuswide student referendum. More than anything in this world, the Chief represents this university. Let's let those who attend this institution decide what mascot we are represented by what should and be done with it.

Scott G. Edens

senior in engineering