"I recently read about the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps severely injured service members during the time between their active duty and return to civilian life. Those who would remove any name connected to anything human wouldn’t go after the Wounded Warrior Project, would they?

That might be exaggerating the point, but what isn’t exaggeration is that in a country still so young, we are so quick to revise history, so fast to apologize for anything deemed politically incorrect by the loudest among us.

Sometimes it’s the right thing to do. For example, Redskins merits full reconsideration — though it’s ironic that the pro football team in our nation’s capitol shrugs off such criticism. Ah, politics.

But with Indians and Warriors, there’s room for compromise.

The logos that largely reflect early Hollywood’s depictions of Indians and Warriors can go, for sure. But it seems that in a world where Native Americans are now known largely for running casinos, there’s a place for a school nickname to serve as an educational catalyst for understanding the full histories of both a community and the Native population that lives within."

Get the Story:
Ernie Clark: Nicknames’ compromise possible (The Bangor Daily News 5/21)