Ed Rice Special to the Bangor Daily News Not meant to be anywhere near as darkly humorous as Boston’s celebrated “Curse of the Bambino” or the Chicago Cubs’ concerns about curses related to a billy goat or a reviled fan named Bartman, a curse from the late Native American political activist Russell Means was put on the Cleveland Indians baseball team for its inappropriate nickname and racist caricature logo/mascot, Chief Wahoo. His curse specifically directs that the team make it to the … [Read more...]
Archives for 2016
Skowhegan adults desperately need a mascot lesson. Students could teach it to them
Ed Rice Special to the Bangor Daily News Recently, a friend of mine, who was an anti-Vietnam War activist, had a surprising message for me, concerning my involvement in a now six-year campaign to end the use of Native American nicknames and mascots in my home state of Maine. Yes, it was all the way back in May 2010 that I, the author of a book on Louis Sockalexis (the first-known Native American baseball player who remains victimized by the city of Cleveland for inspiring a disrespectful … [Read more...]
Maine’s do-nothing Board of Education needs to take on school mascot disrespect
Special to the Bangor Daily News Posted March 30, 2016, at 4:12 p.m. I know many conservatives revere the notion of “local control.” But I believe here in Maine, probably as a direct result of five combative, wholly divisive years of ultra-conservative LePage administration policies, we have come face to face with a very sinister version of this philosophy that merely allows elected officials to ignore injustice and abrogate governmental responsibility. It is now a little more than one … [Read more...]