The small pastoral town of Eaton, Colorado, has a long history of... well... almost nothing. But in 2002 they garnered national attention with their high school sports team that calls itself the "Reds". Their mascot is a Native American caricature featuring a big nose.
The term 'redskin' and depiction is offensive to Native Americans for reasons that should be obvious. But after attempting to "open a dialogue for over two months with the Eaton School District," Dan Ninham, the founder of Coloradans Against Ethnic Stereotypes in Colorado Schools, thought change could not be wrought.
But Dan's fight was brought to the forefront of media attention when an intramural baseball team at the nearby University of Northern Colorado, officially called 'Native Pride', adopted the 'Fighting Whites' as their mascot. Their jerseys featured a picture of a stereotypical white suburbanite and the tag line, "Every thang's gonna be all white". As more and more people picked up on the story, the name morphed into The Fightin' Whities.
This touched off a media frenzy that ended up with Denver radio shock-jocks Lewis and Floorwax heading a campaign to get Eaton High to change its mascot to the Beaver, hence becoming the Eaton Beavers.
The puerile humor should be obvious to anyone with their mind in the gutter, but just in case, have you heard of Beaver Liquors? It is a liquor store in Beaver Creek, Colorado, of course...
So far, Eaton has not changed their mascot. The Fighting Whites have vowed to return next year to continue the fight.