High School in Illinois able to keep name midgets

CSB. Who told you about this?

Small victory for big people everywhere.

What's the story behind the school using midgets as a mascot name. Is it a fairly new school

Any pics of the mascot on fliers, uni's, etc.

I picture "We are... Halfbreeds! We are... Halfbreeds!" is a common cheer for them?

Yeah, they actually do a halfbreed cheer... They were in a basketball tourney down here a couple years ago. It's mainly Eskimo, a few Athabaskans and mixed with early white traders.

LINK

quote:

---

"It's not a derogatory term to call someone an Eskimo or an Indian or a Harpooner," he said. "It's just a fact of life."

Tim Towarak, co-chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives, said team names are a relatively new phenomenon in rural Alaska and they have not arisen as a major issue for the largest Native Alaskan organization. Team names such as Braves reflect the local culture, and students are proud of their heritage, he said.

"Up here in rural Alaska, it's all just part of our culture," he said.

---

Their merchandise is popular.

quote:

---

Aniak is a village in AK, and their HS teams are known as the Halfbreeds. They're proud of the name.

---

Damn they put it out there and proud of it. And some people say race mixing is bad

quote:

---

I used to fly into Aniak occasionally when I was a bush pilot. I remember seeing a kid with one of these shirts on and thinking it was a joke. Nope, it's their mascot

---

Damn you actually saw that in person. Man I wish they had a good basketball team that could come play in some tournaments down in the lower states.

quote:

---

Yeah, it kind of flies in the face of those who believe all of our interactions with natives had to be hostile. They're proud of it. When their basketball team travels, much of the village shows up via plane. Much of their social life in winter revolves around the basketball team.

---

Yeah, they're very nice and kind people, except when drunk.

The 17 months I spent there was quite an adventure. Flew everything from dead seals to dead Eskimos. Got into an argument with an Alaska State trooper who I flew to a village to pick up a guy who had stabbed a couple of people in a drunken rage. I'm flying an 8 seat single engine Cessna (207) and I wanted the trooper to handcuff him to the seat so he wouldn't go berserk in the plane and make me crash. The trooper said it was against their policy in case of a crash. I said, "So, if he makes us crash, he'll be able to escape the wreckage?" I tell you what bud, either you handcuff him to that seat, or you can walk him back to Bethel. It's about 30 miles back that way across the tundra." Needless to say, he broke their policy.