Back at It Again With the White Power
For nigh 50 years, fans have loved the burly Husker mascot who wears blue overalls, sports a big red cowboy hat and keeps an ear of corn in his pocket. The depiction of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed farmer with a barrel breast and chiseled chin is, for many Nebraskans, a representation of the state itself.
For well-nigh all that fourth dimension, Herbie Husker has held a football in i hand and thrown up an "a-OK" sign with the other. Simply if you lot've paid shut attention, you may take noticed a change.
Now, Herbie's left hand shows "nosotros're number i."
The reason for that slight switch: White supremacists.
Internet trolls and white supremacy groups have tried to turn the OK sign into a symbol of white power, challenge the iii fingers up form a W and the circle and wrist form a P.
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That, in plow, gave Herbie's OK sign a potential significant his creators never intended.
The new meaning was brought to the attention of Lonna Henrichs, the UNL athletic department's licensing and branding managing director, in July 2020, just weeks after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer. Floyd's murder prompted racial reckoning and protests across the state – including counter-protests where members of hate groups flashed the sign.
"That hand gesture could, in some circles, correspond something that does not correspond what Nebraska athletics is about," Henrichs said. "We only didn't even want to be associated with portraying annihilation that somebody might call back, you know, that it ways white power.
"We made that alter equally quick as we could."
She asked an in-house designer to Photoshop Herbie'southward left mitt to have one finger pointed in the air. While the change hasn't still appeared in Nebraska's brand volume, Herbie with his index finger aloft is the only logo that will be approved for merchandise going forward, Henrichs said.
Two years ago, The Anti-Defamation League added the OK paw gesture to its hate symbol database with a caveat: "item caution must be used when evaluating this symbol."
They say the gesture has been used in many cultures with different meanings. In 17th Century United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, it was a indicate of blessing. In Hinduism and Buddhism, it represents "inner perfection." In American Sign Language, information technology forms the footing of many words. For high schoolers, information technology is a role of "the circle game" where they endeavor to trick their friends into looking at the gesture. If they practice, the person who duped them tin give them a friendly punch.
"In nigh contexts, (it) is entirely innocuous and harmless," the ADL writes.
Simply starting in 2017, the symbol gained a new significant as members of the forum 4chan attempted to promote the symbol every bit a hate gesture.
The goal was to "trigger" liberals. The hoax was so successful, the ADL says, that it became popular with some white supremacists who adopted the symbol equally their ain. Detest groups used it at far-right rallies and during the January 6 coup, further pushing it into the public consciousness.
Lawrence Chatters, the athletic department'due south first senior staff-level head of variety, equity and inclusion, was hired after the decision was made. He'southward proud of the conclusion. He said he wants the Huskers to be "competitively inclusive."
"When in that location is hatred and hurt fastened to a symbol, or a discussion, or a gesture, we take to pay attention to information technology," said Chatters, an executive associate athletic managing director. "We don't have the choice to just say, 'well, that'southward not what you think it is.'
"Truthfully, those (hate) groups practise exist. Truthfully, those are movements that accept acquired issues in our country. We're not talking almost a fake reality here."
Dick West, a longtime cartoonist from Lubbock, Texas, was presumably thinking about none of this when he drew what became Herbie for the 1974 Cotton fiber Basin pitting Nebraska against Texas.
The cartoon, posted in the press box, caught the eye of then Sports Information Managing director Don Bryant. West created a slightly refined, less hokey version of Herbie for a permanent logo.
After that fall, the Herbie logo showed upwardly on the media guide, his outset official appearance. He replaced a alpine, lanky logo and mascot known as Harry Husker. It was a time of transition for both the look and leadership of the program: A young Tom Osborne had just taken over from Bob Devaney.
W, who worked for decades at the Lubbock newspaper and eventually became the city'southward mayor, drew a few things that wouldn't pass muster today, including Native Americans with tomahawks, caricatured as Large 8 mascots, and Texas A&Yard fans every bit dim-witted. But Herbie spanned decades and changing times, becoming one of the cartoonist's longest-lasting creations.
West died in 1996, merely a yr afterward Husker Athletic Director Bill Byrne attempted to go rid of the logo and mascot, saying Herbie was "not nationally marketable."
"We've worked and worked with Herbie. No affair what we practice, he doesn't seem to be very highly-seasoned to our fans," Byrne said at the time.
That market research upset some Husker fans, who started a petition demanding Herbie return as the school's official mascot – ane,200 people signed.
"You'd be surprised how agitated people are about this," Sandi James of Big Red Etc. said at the time. "They're more aroused than they were the year Nebraska lost to both Oklahoma and Colorado."
Herbie stayed as he was until 2004, He slimmed downward under Athletic Director Steve Pederson, went from blonde to brown hair, and traded in his overalls for a red polo and jeans.
Just just vi years afterward, the old Herbie came back in a large way. Vintage logos were in manner and then popular that the Husker basketball team started using Herbie on shirts and hats.
"Nostalgia is wonderful here at Nebraska," NU branding director Henrichs said. "Everybody loved the '90s."
Now, Herbie has changed, always-so-slightly, over again.
Fans interviewed for this story understand the switch, though one laments it every bit a tad besides politically correct.
Andrew Monson recently noticed the change to Herbie'south left paw. He spent his early on years in Nebraska and is a fan of logo blueprint with an eye for item. (His dad, a paper editor, would pay him a quarter for every mistake he found in the paper when he was a kid).
Monson suspected the white supremacist ties spurred the new logo. He thinks the quick switch was smart.
"From a marketing point of view, they absolutely nailed information technology in terms of brand preservation and getting out ahead of things," Monson said. "Their worst-example scenario would be a… white supremacist who notices it and starts co-opting information technology… that would be an absolute disaster for the university."
He said the decision was savvy, but a missed opportunity for a serious public dialogue.
"Even merely saying, 'hey, look, we realize this is maybe ridiculous to some people, but from our standpoint, we just can't accept whatsoever kind of association (with this), fifty-fifty if it started every bit a joke. That'southward non who we are,'" he said, noting information technology would've been a good opportunity to teach most hate symbols and how they can proceeds ability.
Aaron Wade of Alliance, Nebraska, is a long-time fan and artist who wrote well-nigh his love for archetype Herbie.
"The original hand-drawn Herbie had some character," he said. "Information technology was hand-drawn and non estimator-generated. Whatsoever more than logos are just then refined… they kind of lose their character."
He didn't detect the hand change until it was pointed out to him.
"I understand from the (university'south) perspective, I really exercise," Wade said. "It'due south just sad when something so innocent gets portrayed that fashion… the world's political correctness anymore is just kind of baffling sometimes."
Scott Strunc, owner of Husker Hounds, said the alter was so subtle he didn't discover. Regardless of Herbie'due south mitt betoken, the old school character is "the one that everybody wants," Strunc said.
The cash register isn't ringing as much equally in years past. Merely that's non Herbie'south fault.
"The reason sales are downwards," Strunc said, "is because they went 3-9 and they've had 5 sequent losing seasons."
The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska's beginning independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and characteristic stories that matter.
Source: https://flatwaterfreepress.org/how-white-power-changed-herbie-husker/
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