Native

I saw a few posts recently regarding the use of Native mascots / race names and the message struck a few chords for me. Initially I held my thoughts, and my signature, as I’ve been a part of two major name changes, both of which I disagree with.

I’m a quarter Native American. My late grandfather was full Ojibwa. We are members of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians. As a card carrying member, I have spear fishing and wild rice harvesting rights on tribal land in northern Wisconsin. I do not receive any tribal money, nor was my education paid for by any native scholarship.

When I was in elementary school in northern Minnesota, the district decided to change the mascot of the high school from the Indians, to something we all got to vote on. We ended up the Thunderhawks, a made up bird. I was too young to really understand the impact, but I was proud to be a Grand Rapids Indian, or a Thunderhawk when I played varsity sports.

Then I “became” a Fighting Sioux and signed my letter of intent to swim for the University of North Dakota from 2002-2006. I was proud to wear that logo, designed by a Sioux artist, and never “worn” as a mascot. There wasn’t a fake headdress or a “tomahawk chop.” It wasn’t “hostile or abusive” as the NCAA claimed, yet they were forced to change the name in order to compete at the national level a few years after I graduated.

UND eventually cut the m&w swimming & diving program, as well as the women’s hockey team. I am no longer an alumni supporter of my Alma mater.

Sport has always been a part of my life. There’s something about competing, against myself and others, that really makes me who I am today. Cycling has been a natural transition from my swimming background. I love bike races. I love visiting different communities across the country and riding on the diverse surfaces that this world has to offer.

Dirty Kanza has recently come under the same spotlight, and just sent an open letter to our community signed by the race director, and the chairwoman of the Kaw Nation in defense and support of the name. When I was reading the change dot org message against the name, I kept wondering where the Kaw people stood, and now I know.

I’m proud and honored to race my bike on those unmaintained scars in the land that some call roads, to battle the elements and myself, to have the luck in calling myself a DK finisher. I’m proud of my native heritage. I’m thankful to those who’ve come before. And I ride for those who can’t.

My dad calls my freckles my Indian Blood, and I’m glad to have a part of him, and those before, running through my veins, with me everyday.