FORT TOTTEN, N.D.--Over the course of 20 years, I received 3 degrees from UND--a bachelors, masters and doctorate. As an alumnus and as a Sioux, I want to thank President Robert Kelley for the honorable and courageous leadership that he showed in carrying out the wishes all the North Dakotans who voted to end the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname at my beloved alma mater.
It was this honorable and courageous leadership that so infuriated the die-hard nickname supporters. They were so used to previous presidents backing down when the issue of retiring the Fighting Sioux nickname was discussed. Not Kelley: Although he was savagely attacked again and again, he went about doing his job, without demeaning, degrading or insulting anyone.
The critics' scorched-earth policy of attacking Kelley only strengthened the resolve of us Indian students who had attended or were attending UND to support him and his decisions regarding the nickname.
Why did the die-hard nickname supporters attack Kelley so viciously that a new term, North Dakota Mean, was coined to describe their behavior? After all, Kelley was hired when the nickname fight basically was over and done with. He really didn't have anything to do with the NCAA's policy.
It was because they can't accept these truths: Two out of three North Dakotans voted against the name, and the name is racist to the majority of Indian students who are connected with UND.
I was puzzled when I read that the incoming interim president said he was going to repair the relationship with the tribes. There is nothing to repair now that the Fighting Sioux nickname has been retired.
The only problem now is that some die-hard nickname supporters will not move on. With the nickname now retired and a new one selected, I sincerely hope the interim president doesn't try to start a dialogue with tribal governments regarding the nickname. The Fighting Sioux Curse is dead and buried; let's leave it that way.
Here are few other misconceptions that should be cleared up:
▇ Statements have been made that us Sioux should have been consulted in picking a new nickname. Nothing could be further from the truth. I live on Spirit Lake 24/7, and not once have I heard any tribal member or elected official express concern that we were not consulted on the new nickname.
Once the majority of North Dakotans voted to let UND change the Fighting Sioux nickname, it became a non-issue on our reservation, and we quickly forgot about it. How many Sioux from the Spirit Lake or Standing Rock nations attended the protests held on campus in support of the name this past year? Zero, zilch, nada.
▇ The Sioux will be relegated to the dustbins of history now that UND no longer is called the Fighting Sioux. Again, nothing could be further from the truth. Thanks to tribal colleges, we now have doctors, lawyers, state legislators and so on, and these numbers are growing by leaps and bound every year.
We gather by the thousands every year in different formats to discuss issues in Indian Country, and our powwows draw tens of thousand of participants and spectators.
We will not be forgotten, unlike the Fighting Sioux nickname, which eventually will not even be a memory.
▇ People who say they'll be Sioux forever. There are seven bands that make up the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fire) or the Great Sioux Nation; and unless you belong to one of these bands, than you are not a Sioux, you will never be a Sioux, and us actual Sioux want you to stop claiming that you are a Sioux.
There is no need to disgrace the national anthem and us actual Sioux by yelling "Sioux" at the end of the song.
In closing and on behalf of the majority of the thousands of Native American students who have attended UND over the past 50 years and who tirelessly have advocated for the retirement of the nickname, I wish Kelley well in his retirement. He is welcome to visit us at Spirit Lake Nation anytime.
Longie is president of Spirit Lake Consulting.
