What's in a name? When it comes to the use of aboriginal nicknames for sports teams, it can be a stadium full of emotions. We look into the battle at a Saskatchewan High School over the name and mascot of their teams - pitting student against student, school board against alumni. 

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Part Two of The Current

Sport Team Names & Cultural Sensitivity - Bedford Road Graduate

We started this segment with the sound of tens of thousands of Atlanta Braves baseball fans engaged in the Tomahawk Chop. It's a gesture that enraged many native groups two decades ago. And it detonated a debate over how -- and why-- sports teams use Native names and symbols.

The issue still simmers at Bedford Road High School in Saskatoon. Some former students want the school to drop the name "Redmen" from its sports teams. They also want to drop the school logo -- the profile of a bright red man with braids and feathers in his hair.

Even when they were first adopted in the 1960s, the name and logo were controversial. But students we spoke with didn't see much of a problem. We aired a clip.

Justin Wiebe is a graduate of Bedford Road High School. He's one of the four people who started the campaign Its Time for Change to change the name of the schools sports team and logo.

Sport Team Names & Cultural Sensitivity - Spirit Lake Sioux Nation

When the athletes of the University of North Dakota take to the rink, the court or the gridiron, they compete under the name "The Fighting Sioux". Their logo is a Sioux warrior. And nothing makes them fight harder than attempts to fiddle with their name.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association demanded a change and the battle went to the State legislature and the Federal court. In June, voters will decide in a state-wide referendum. Frank Black Cloud is a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux Nation and a supporter of "the Fighting Sioux". Frank Black Cloud joined us from Fort Totten, North Dakota.

Sport Team Names & Cultural Sensitivity - U of Saskatchewan professor

In 2005, the American Psychological Association called for the immediate retirement of all Indian symbols from sports teams because of potential harmful effects on the self-esteem of young native people.

Alex Wilson is an education professor at the University of Saskatchewan. She is from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and supports efforts to stop associating sports teams with native culture. Alex Wilson joined us from St. Paul, Minnesota.

This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal and Josh Bloch.

Related Links:

Seeing Red - High school logo controversy leads to some serious hate By: Lisa Johnson - Planets Magazine

The fight over high school 'Redmen' name and 'Indian head' logo is not going away By: Leah Davidson - The Sheaf

Summary of the American Psychological Association Resolution Recommending Retirement of American Indian Mascots

Has political correctness gone too far? - Wawatay News

Is "The Fighting Sioux" offensive? NCAA says yes, Sioux tribe says no - By: Blake Baxter - Eureka College

The Next Little Big Horn: Black Cloud Says NCAA's Actions Discriminatory Against Spirit Lake Sioux By: Kate Bommarito - Plains Daily

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