The honorable response is sometimes a clear, solid 'No'

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

You've seen Stephen Hawking on television. He's that man in the wheelchair, with the flat, mechanical voice that replaces his paralyzed vocal cords. Lou Gehrig's disease has robbed Hawking of his ability to speak. Yet he is arguably the world's most brilliant astrophysicist.

In 1999, a science reporter asked him, "Do you expect time travel or travel through different dimensions in the universe to be possible in the next 1,000 years?"

Hawking's one-word answer: "No."

He knows that any other answer may leave the matter in doubt.

His "No" mirrors closely the answer given by our Seminole Tribe of Florida a century and a half ago, when they were ordered to leave their homes.

"No," they said. They knew negotiation would gain nothing. The government wanted to move all Indians out of Florida. The Seminoles were determined not to go.

The Indians who did surrender were driven west along the infamous Trail of Tears.

Those who did not perish along the way were fated to brutal poverty.

A few hundred warriors and their families refused to surrender and slipped back into the swamps. From that small band grew the great Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The Seminoles are winning. In fact, they may have already won. That happened because they never stopped looking for victory. Mere survival was never the goal.

If we were searching for a symbol, surely this one resonates most powerfully.

The issue of Indian names for sports teams is political, but it is not an issue of right vs. left, liberal vs. conservative. Florida State draws passionate support from alumni and friends across the broadest ranges of the political spectrum.

For decades, FSU has engaged the issue of our Seminole symbol with sensitivity, forging respect and trust between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the university.

One figure in this story who towers above all others is Bill Durham. For nearly 40 years, Durham has made the faithful presentation of a Seminole symbol a major focus of his life. Prosperous owner of a Tallahassee insurance company, Durham is pleasant and self-effacing, but he is the personification of the principle that "Nothing Is Ever Accomplished By A Reasonable Man."

Yes, Durham is unreasonable. A quarter century ago he insisted that the Seminole Tribe of Florida be consulted about every nuance of the Seminole symbol. Osceola and Renegade do not do ribbon cuttings, they open no new malls and they do not promote unbelievable deals on new and used cars and trucks. The standards to which the riders must adhere are unreasonable. The security precautions, and the demands made on the entire crew, are unreasonable. And now that we face a battle over the appropriateness of our honored symbol, we find that we owe considerable gratitude to this unreasonable man.

Things might have been different. Osceola might have been available for hire, for kids' parties and the like. We could have had an Indian "mascot" who ran to the opponents' sidelines and mock-wrestled their mascot.

Instead, the dignity of Osceola and Renegade enables both liberal and conservative political minds to unite in support of our honored symbol.

When we are asked about changing the honored symbol of our university, why not respond with the answer favored by one of the most brilliant men alive today?

"No" said Hawking, and so should we all say, simply, "No."