What do you think?

[Mya7]

I just wanted to find out what anyone thinks of this.

I am interested in fitness and stumbled onto a site called siouxcountry.com with an image of sitting bull on the site, this guys avi and radio station logo.

At first I was curious to find out if this was a site that natives had for fitness, body building(don't laugh yet, im not done) and womens competition.

They called it a sport and themselves athletes. So I started digging around the site to see if there were any natives in this sport and no. Didn't see anything related to it or if the administrator who started this site was native. He uses Sitting Bulls image as his avi and as far as I have looked,no actual pic of him. But did find out he is a white guy who is only a fan of women's bodybuilding so that is why he started the site.

For some reason I am mad about this...and would like anyone who is curious as well to check it out and tell me if it offends u too and let me know.

Does the name of the site offend u?

Does the use of Sitting Bulls image offend u?

Does anything about this site offend u?
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Update:

Alright, as soon as I sent this, I checked back at the site and he changed his avi to SC and took down Sitting Bulls image. Get this, the posters/members are morning the fact that he changed his avi based on my arguments. I must not be crazy.

[Joe's Dad]

Good thread over there Mya.

Except that Bulkwhatever was an a-hole! LOL

[steelemagnolia63]

Way to go Mya... I think that you stated your poin well and stood your ground... but once again we are up against that wall that thinks the way that white folks do about us...

Here is my answer on your thread my dear.. :)

I came to this thread from a post on another site, answering a call from Mya to read this and give our thoughts as Native Americans. I am 7/16th Cherokee and a proud member of the Cherokee Nation, many members of my family walked and died on the Trail of Tears. This was a forced relocation to a reservation so that our homelands could be given to the White Americans. My grandmother was not a princess; they do not exist in tribal society with the exception of Pow Wow princesses. Pow Wow princesses are like any festivals royalty or parade royalty.

I understand that this site is devoted to women's body building, fitness and so on. I am sure that the founder meant no offense to us as the indigenous peoples of this country. We do find it very offensive to use our likenesses, our tribal names, and pretty much anything that has to do with us in your advertising, names of your sports teams and other things that are non-Native American. Please understand that those of us who embrace our native heritage are offended by this. Many nations are involved in law suits to have mascots, and images removed, not for money but just to have this taken off the ‘signs’. Words that you think are funny or acceptable are often a slap in the face to a Native American. How would you feel if we dressed up in black face and ran around singing Mammy? What if we painted ourselves up to look like leprechauns or worse even yet if we all started goose stepping and saying that there was no holocaust?
Most non-Native Americans think that we should view this as some great show of respect and difference to our peoples. We view as an infringement of something that we hold sacred. We are offended as people of over 500 different tribes, who are desperately trying to hold on to what is our culture. We have been fighting a battle against assimilation for over 500 years. The Native American people are survivors of a genocide that most Americans want to put their proverbial heads in the sand and ignore.

We are struggling to hold what is our birth right. It is attacked from more sides than most can imagine. Our culture is something that is very different from tribe to tribe. We are not a one size fits all people. Some of us are more threatened than others. What offends one tribe does not always bother the others, but in general we all ban together to protect the cultures of our brothers and sisters.

We have many, many, fakes, plastic shamans and wannabes (what we refer to White, non-Natives who dress up and play Indian on weekends) who make a living off pretending to be one of us. Wannabes see us as the answer to whatever is missing in their own lives. They seem to think that we have some great knowledge that they do not have.

We fight the stereo type of the ignorant savage every day of our lives. Many of us are college educated, don’t live on the reservation, and never have lived in a tipi. We don’t wear feathers and face paint. You find us in every city, town and berg in the United Stated and Canada. We are your next door neighbors, and most of the time you don’t know it. We are not all drunken smelly children in need of guidance and protection from ourselves. Most of us don’t get checks from the government or casinos for being Native Americans. Most of us struggle to pay our mortgage and send our children to college so that they can have a better future.

Reservation life is a sad and mostly third world existence. People live in abject poverty mostly due to the fact where 90% of the rez’s are there is no industry of any kinds for jobs. There are not the great handouts that most non-natives think that the government is doling out to our peoples.

I certainly welcome any chance to change your perception of my people and the other original peoples of this country. By the way this is an educated ‘indian’ I have a BA in business, attended University of Texas, and graduated on the top third of my class. And the government did not pay for my education, I worked my way through college.

[Mud_Woman]

. . . its a stupid site overall and that individual has a weird fetish . . women bodybuilders???

[Tibiki Kinew]

Ever wonder why there are no female sumo wrestlers anywhere?? Talk about diaper looks!!!!!

[Mya7]

Thank you!

THANK YOU! FOR YOUR REPLIES AND COMMENTS ON THE SITE. I KNEW I COULD NOT BE COMPLETELY INSANE FOR FEELING THE WAY I DO.

I AM UNSURE I WANT TO STAY AT THE SITE, BUT I AM INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE "SPORT". I MIGHT GO ELSEWHERE OR CHANGE MY NAME ON THERE.

I WAS THINKING I MIGHT OFF FLEW OF THE HANDLE AT FIRST, AND MAYBE COULD OF WROTE SOMETHING BETTER AS THE TOPIC/FIRST POST. I REALIZE IF I HAD MAYBE APPROACHED IT DIFFERENTLY, I MIGHT OF AVOIDED SOME OF THE FIRES. BUT THEN AGAIN, IT WAS AN EYE OPENER.

I DID NOT EXPECT TO GET SO DEEP INTO IT, BUT LIKE I SAID, I WAS PISSED OFF FROM THE START. I LET THE WHOLE THING ABOUT IT GET TO ME.
I APPRECIATE YOUR TIME FOR CHECKING IT OUT AND YOUR REPLIES. THANKS AGAIN.
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So I checked back at the site to be nosy and give jason my thanks, but then found a wanna be movement going on. Funny, I had a feeling they would. So I wrote a note with love. They've peaked my interest. Damn.

Check it out if you want to laugh. They all changed their avi's to sitting bull and want to smoke a pipe to prove a point. I somehow managed to turn them into racists just by leaving and going to work. What does that tell you? Oh, and their keeping the image for a logo I think.

[Mya7]

Thank You! see my update.

[Mya7]

Check it out...

[Mya7]

Come see what is going on now...