 "Photo: Chris Kominczak")
Adoption of another culture's symbol or image may be entertaining but can also propagate past trauma and conflict of oppressed races, said Anthony Tyeeme Clark, an American Indian Studies Program assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In his discussion, "When 'Fun' Isn't Funny: Racist Entertainment, from Ghetto Parties to American Indian Mascots," Clark, a citizen of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi, described American Indian misfortunes and the consequences of adoption of American Indian images and symbols by other ethnicities, mainly by whites.
Clark said that by fabricating these symbols and images, it empowers white supremacy because these images and symbols create boundaries between American Indians from non-American Indian.
It recreates the American Indians' actual identity by replacing it with the colonizers' stereotypical idea of the group and deviates from their identity and culture, Clark said.
Clark said it produces antagonistic communities and separates groups further. It leaves generations with a reminder of what's "bad" about American Indians, such as stereotypes of them being "savage," deviates from their true history and erases their misfortunes.
UT has faced similar conflict regarding entertainment and race. Statues honoring historical figures who owned slaves or were a part of terrorist organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, or members of the Confederate army, have been a topic of debate among the campus community.
"What does that say about UT when we have ways to honor members of those parties?" asked associate journalism professor and member of the Diversity Issues Committee of the College of Communication Robert Jensen.
The Ghetto Fabulous Party was also an issue of controversy last semester, when UT law students threw a party impersonating blacks and Latinos. The party triggered anger from students who considered the actions thoughtless and inconsiderate of the feelings of others.
"People need to realize how our own internal struggles are interlocking with others, and that it is natural to consent to things as real or factual, because that is just how things are," Clark said.
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