"UND law professor Jim Grijalva presents himself as being a member of the fair-minded groups on both sides of the logo-nickname controversy who were “surprised” by the Spirit Lake vote.

If he was fair minded, why was he so surprised by the vote? I was not surprised.

A retired friend who worked for more than 30 years in the Indian programs at UND told me the day before the election that 70 percent of the registered members would vote in favor of keeping the logo and nickname. My non-Indian friend seems to understand the true feelings of his Indian friends better than Grijalva or the Indian elected officials.

Grijalva is not fair minded. He is a strong opponent of the logo and nickname, and his letter proves it.

Grijalva thinks that imposing democracy on an Indian culture that favors consensus voting is wrong. He is wrong. Consensus voting is the purest form of democracy, but it is limited to relatively small homogenous groups that have no internal stresses."

Get the Story:
Edward Halas: Dazzling vote makes logo foes shield eyes (The Grand Forks Herald 4/28)
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