Down For The Ride (Jonathan Toews)

23~Commander and Chief

Brielle

As March continues to mow along I try and keep things interesting. My channel is doing better than ever because all people can do is watch me try things I would have never done if I wasn't locked up in an apartment for weeks at a time. I've done yoga and tried to make a song which turned out awful yet funny. Jonny killed it on his guitar but the lyrics were a little sus, I can't lie. I have zoomed my family almost every day and yet I feel like this month will never end. March has been the longest year of my life really.

Today I was gonna do something different than my usual fun games and challenges. Today I was going to do a bit of a history lesson. I truly believe a lot of people have formed the wrong opinions about certain things simply because they don't have the right or enough information. People are so quick to judge based on beliefs passed down to them or because they have this innate view of things. So I wanted to take the time and use my platform for something fun yet informational.

Jonny and I talked about this for a while because he was quite the educated man himself. And yes he only did one year of college but he didn't stop learning after coming to the league. He reads a few books a month and constructs his beliefs based off of facts and not what other people tell him to believe.

He suggested that we do a little history on the Blackhawks name. With the teams like the Redskins and The Indians talking about changing their names I think it's important to understand why the Blackhawks are not a part of that group willing to change the name just yet and why it has meaning to the city of Chicago.

So we start digging, we call informational centers and Indian reserves. We talk to real Native American people, people who have the Black Hawk lineage in their blood. We don't ask the people who don't know anything about what it means to be associated with Black Hawk. We read and do our own research to see what we can find.

This is something Jonny has wanted to do for a long time. Not a lot of sports teams have a name that means something. It's usually some animal mascot or something about the city they're in like the nationals/ capitals or golden state. But here this organization was different and I wanted to know why.

First we find out who is this man they called Black Hawk. He was the son of the leader of the Suk tribe in modern day Rock Island, Illinois. He was not gifted the title of chief rather earning his name by leading the tribe in battles and basically killing and scalping every person he could find. He fought the colonizers and other tribes to keep his home safe and away from modernization. Once his father died he was granted the rank of "war leader" and so he continued on fighting for his land. Black Hawk ended up siding with the British in the war of 1812 to try and keep the new Americans away from spreading disease among his people and tearing up their crops. He spent most of his 70 years of life fighting, he spent some time in captivity and reclaiming his land. In the end they saw him as a hero, now we see him as a great part of American history.

Enter the Chicago hockey team trying to find a name as they jumped into the league in 1926. As a part of the original six they didn't have much time to figure it out. After a lot of moving around and a lot of money thrown around Fredric McLaughlin ended up with the team. He was a commander in world war 1 in charge of the "Blackhawk division" named after no one other than the great Black Hawk. His ties to the northern parts of Illinois and his great leadership had carried his name a hundred years into the early 20th century. The team was named for the division McLaughlin fought in which was named after the great Native American chief.

Later on the Chicago Black Hawks became the Chicago Blackhawks and that's how the team got his name.

"Wow" I gasp as I shake my head. "That is pretty freaking amazing. Native American history always blows my mind. Their culture is so beautiful and their language was one of a kind. I really hate what happened to his people" I admit.

"And in that sense I see why some people don't like us using his name. We're just some more white people appropriating someone else's stuff. But it's obviously more than that. This name sparks interest in people, it keeps the memory of Black Hawk and his people alive. We're not calling people reds skins or Indians. We're celebrating this man and carrying on his name. Some of the last representation of Native American people we have out here" he says.

"I think it's a beautiful name and a beautiful story. If more people knew and made judgments based off of that then maybe they would see just how great this story is. This is Illinois history, it's American history. If they see this and still don't like the organization taking a name that's fine. I understand why people wouldn't want this name associated with a ice hockey team. But it's a honor for this name to still be spoken and it has people like me and now all my friends learning about Native American history. Call it what you will but it's certainly not racist" I insist.

"You think your fans will really get into this" he asks.

"I don't know. I've done videos like this before about cancer research and why not to donate to Susan g Coleman but instead to other non-profit organizations. I have a platform and I hate when I see people commenting something when they just don't know what they're taking about. I've seen a few people say something about this and I wanted to let everyone know that when they sit here and talk out of their ass it just makes them look even more ridiculous" I explain.

"Everyone has a brain but not everyone uses it. Just look at Patrick" he smirks.

"Leave him alone" I laugh. "The man is trying his best."

"Well it's not good enough" he mumbled making me giggle.

"So, you making this video with me" I wonder.

"Can I" he asks.

"This is your organization Jonny. You're the captain, he was the chief. I think it's right if you say something" I admit

"Just call me chief Jonny" he smiles real big.

"Such a nerd" I accuse.

"Says you. You actually have a degree, a masters at that" he accuses.

"Graduating and being smart isn't the same thing" I remind him.

"I know. But it's still nice to have someone with the following you have using her brain and not to tell her fans what to think. Giving them information the  letting them make a decision on their own, that's really big of you" he claims.

"Just trying to change the world" I smile.

"Well you changed mine and that's not easy to do" he admits.

"Ain't that the truth" I tease.