Hiawatha is more than just a leader he’s essentially a religious figure to the Haudenosaunee who historically reside in roughly the area around Lake Ontario.
It is definitely in bad taste to take a meaningful symbol from an existing marginalized culture and use it to brand your open source project because you think it sounds cool. But, this is something that was not widely recognized as bad until very recently, especially outside North America, and obviously this already happened a lot in the past so I don’t think it reflects badly on the authors or contributors at this point. That said the name should change and, at bare minimum, that cartoon has to go.
It’s a great idea, though, for us all to learn the real story of Hiawatha, the Great Peacemaker, Jigonsaseh, Tadodaho and the origins of the Five (now Six) Nations. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it helped inspire the structure of the early USA. It’s also a refreshing alternative take on power and leadership from what we are usually shown in the West. One of the world’s great cultural treasures, I really think.
Very interesting piece of history right there. Just out of curiosity, what is your thought on the feather logo used by Apache? Is that something that needs to go as well?
It is definitely in bad taste to take a meaningful symbol from an existing marginalized culture and use it to brand your open source project because you think it sounds cool. But, this is something that was not widely recognized as bad until very recently, especially outside North America, and obviously this already happened a lot in the past so I don’t think it reflects badly on the authors or contributors at this point. That said the name should change and, at bare minimum, that cartoon has to go.
It’s a great idea, though, for us all to learn the real story of Hiawatha, the Great Peacemaker, Jigonsaseh, Tadodaho and the origins of the Five (now Six) Nations. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it helped inspire the structure of the early USA. It’s also a refreshing alternative take on power and leadership from what we are usually shown in the West. One of the world’s great cultural treasures, I really think.