A special Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek was held at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, on April 14th. Former Cook County Circuit Court Judge Louis B. Garippo, and the University of Illinois Board of Trustees heard the testimony of a wide variety of speakers including Indian activists, alumni, students, faculty and community members, speaking for or against the continuation of the mascot, Chief Illiniwek. The forum was part of a months-long process of opinion-seeking that will form the basis of a report by Judge Garippo to the Board of Trustees.

There was the sound of the drum, echoing across the soft air along with the piercing trill of a drum song. There were voices of people, talking into microphones, bouncing off the concrete buildings and making a strange reverberation across the greening lawn.

The Day of Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek had begun.

It had been a long road to get to this place, walked on by many members of the Chicago Indian community as well as Indians from around the state, region and nation. Each one added their stone of truth to the basket that has finally overflowed into change.

My Grandmother used to talk about Chief Illiniwek. She used to call him that "damn silly fool" who embarrassed her and made her mad. Her voice was added to the already many voices of those who believed that Indian people were not mascots, and paved the way for others like Charlene Teeters, and the film, "In Whose Honor", a video that has played a large part in turning up the consciousness of people as well as the heat on the University of Illinois.

So, in the middle of Spring, on a day most people would have preferred to stroll outdoors, over 700 people attended the Day of Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek.

Members of Indian organizations, individuals, members of pro-Chief organizations and individuals, faculty, students, children—everyone showed up to say their truth about the Chief. Indian people came from across the nation; members of AIM, Michael Haney, and representatives of most American Indian organizations in Illinois gave comments.

U of I Professors, staff, faculty and former trustees spoke about how much more difficult it had become to teach there, how difficult it is to teach ethics, and fairness and all the other things that young people are supposed to learn in school; how difficult, painful even, it has become to have to justify a mascot that they believe is wrong. Students told horror stories about their experiences at the U of I, and even young children's voices broke in pain and humiliation when they told a room full of adults how they suffered being an Indian child in a community whose knowledge of and respect for Indian culture comes from a mascot like Illiniwek. Their parents echoed that anguish with stories of school traumas, fights, expulsions and the late nights of sitting with their children in their arms, wiping their tears and trying to explain the unfairness of the world.

Indian activists held an event full of music, dance, speeches and drumming in front of

Foellinger Auditorium, site of the dialogue. Award-winning Chicago poet, Eddie Two Rivers, Native Drums, Sirenz and LaRasa, Native Rapper Julian B. and others provided pointed entertainment, illustrating the negative influence Illiniwek's presence in our community has on everyone living in Illinois, Indian and non-Indian alike.

Former Cook County Circuit Judge Louis B. Garippo, specifically chosen by U of I trustees to hear the dialogue, sat in uncomfortable silence in front of an equally stone-faced portion of the current board of trustees. But sometimes, even their eyes projected a quiet anguish at what they were hearing. In particular, when faced with a roll of toilet paper with Chief Illiniwek's face on every sheet, one member of the trustees panel winced and looked away.

It was a fine day of truth, feeling and movement on the issue, but the most important moment that happened that day was when the cumulative effect of all the testimony against Illiniwek started to be felt among the people there. With testimony coming from the largest and most diverse group ever assembled on this issue, the feeling began to permeate the room and the Quad that Chief Illiniwek's days are truly numbered now. With all the negative press, boycotts by other Big Ten schools, public statements of protest coming from their own Departments, trustees and venerated Professors publicly asking the mascot to be removed, contributors, former and current students all pleading with the trustees to let the Chief die—all had the cumulative effect of making it impossible for the University of Illinois to keep the Chief without suffering increased negative consequences, bad press, dropping enrollment, and decline in its reputation as one of the country's premiere schools.

Sure, there were pro-Chief supporters, powerful ones, too. The current and former Illiniweks were all there to talk about the "honor" they felt and that they felt everyone gave them, how educational and important Illiniwek was not only to University life, but also to the surrounding community. Former trustees, student , and community members were there to say they couldn't understand why Indians were making all this fuss. Some of them actually felt that way when they left, arrogantly pushing their way through the crowd, some of them desperately trying to cling to the old "we're honoring you, and it's about school pride" rhetoric. Some of then were still angry and aggressive in their ignorance…but some of them saw the toilet paper, the tee-shirts with offensive pictures, heard the sobbing of children and the lamentations of their parents, and a few, just a few, were ashamed and appalled.

So, people of all Nations and ways of life gathered—Indians, non-Indians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, men, women, young and old. They danced and talked and smiled and cried, and laughed and fought for what is right, good and decent . It is working and they all knew it. For the pro-Chief supporters, there days are almost over, and they, too, knew it. It is now only a matter of time.

And in the gathering of people, in the bringing together of all their hearts and minds, in the exchange of true feelings and personal truths…..the Creator was pleased.

N'ya Weh.