Oh, please folks, get a grip. I know racism because I grew up subject to it and it wasn't because of a mascot. It was because of the hue of my skin. Have you ever been called s**c, or, n****r in your life because you lived in a white neighborhood or, couldn't go to school because the whites and blacks didn't know what race you were? Mascots are nothing, zero. People judge you on the way you look, the color of your skin, etc. and protesting or getting rid of a symbol is not going to get rid of the problem. We have an deep underlying racism from some people in this country.

I will not let those few people stop me from doing the things I want to do. I will live as a free person, AMERICAN, no hyponated words for me. I served proudly in the USMC for nearly 7 years and I need nobody to take up a cause for me or to speak for me.

Further info on my tribe can be found at www.lumbee.org