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Symbolic racism, history, and reality: The real problem with Indian mascots
Symbolic racism, history, and reality: The real problem with Indian mascots
How team names show respect for native american
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Native American Names in Sports Are Unacceptable "Change starts when someone sees the next step." ~William Drayton Native Americans are trying to take that next step. For the past 100 years Americans have stolen their sacred names and used them for mascots of high school, college, and professional sports teams. The National Education Association is one of the first to step to the plate by passing, Article I-41, which advises use of Prejudicial Terms and Symbols "The National Education Association deplores prejudice based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, size, marital status, or economic status and rejects the use of names, symbols, caricatures, emblems, logos, and mascots that promote such prejudice. (92,94)" By having these practices they believe the rights of Native Americans are protected. Native American Mascots in sports need to change to protect and uphold the rights that are granted to them from the constitution. If we started all over before any names were made and altered these names towards other races how would people react? Lets take the Cleveland Indians for example. What would happen if we had used the Jews, Blacks or Chinese as this political cartoon suggests. Every race involved would have been in an uproar when the caricature came out. They would feel that their constitutional rights were being ignored. But, when "Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians, runs about drunkenly at baseball games"1 they feel that it is ok to disregards the Indian name, heritage, and ritual. Taking in the psychological considerations for the Native Americans "dehumanization, as the word implies, is a psychological process that reduces a person or group to a sub-human level. One... ... middle of paper ... ...ers' evolution from mother and student into a leading voice against the merchandising of Native American sacred symbols -- and shows the lengths to which fans will go to preserve their mascots." In keeping all the Native American Mascots in schools, colleges, and professional sports teams we are showing a lack of respect. The Native Americans have voiced the lack of honor these names are bringing to them. "The fact that history has ignored the incredible pain we have inflicted on Native Americans does not now give us the right to ignore their largely muted call." Americans need to take a step back think about how they would feel if there ritual and or sacred tradition was misused. "We feel that we are being put in a position of sacrificing our dignity and pride and will never be treated as equals in white society as long as the use of Indian symbols continues."
The article “Indian Mascots-You’re Out” by Jack Shakley, was published in the Los Angeles Times in August 2011. The author argues the issues of sport teams having Native American names. The author wrote the article due to more and more Native Americans protesting at stadiums. This article can be divided into five sections. In the introduction, the author opens the article by giving us history on how he first encountered this topic in the early 1950s. He tells the readers, that his father gave him money to buy a baseball cap, but was also conflicted. He originally wanted a Yankees hat because of a fellow Oklahoma Mickey, Mantle came up as being touted as the rookie of the year. Since he is mixed with Muscogee/Creek, he felt misplaced to the
I enjoyed reading your post. I agree with you that offending people should be avoided at all costs. I feel that all words and images regarding American Indians or any race should be banned from being affiliated with any sports teams and mascots. I put this in my original post, but you do not see sports or mascots using any other race. According to Racismagainstindians.org (2002), “interchange the name of any race with the Indians and it immediately becomes clear that we cannot have teams called The Negroes, The Asians, or The Jews”. Today, there are less than 1,000 American Indian mascots used for sports teams (“Anti-Defamation,” 2015).
Cultural stereotypes have always existed and while they may have been acceptable to society in the past, that does not compel us to accept them in today’s society. One such stereotype which is used is that of Native American names and imagery for sports teams and in particular The Washington Redskins of the National Football league. While for many people, this is an argument that has just recently arisen, in actuality, the debate over the use of native names and images has been an ongoing issue for over 50 years. The subject of the Washington Redskins name has been debated across politics, media, academia, religious backgrounds and in the public square for many years.
Chink, wetback, nigger, honky; all of these words have been deemed racist by their respective races and therefore, are rarely used in a neutral sense. However America has vastly overlooked the racist nature of the word “redskins”; making it the name for the football team located in the Nation’s capital. In recent years, Native Americans have gained traction in the fight against the team’s name, yet many non-natives claim they are honoring the culture and heritage. Even President Obama suggested a call for change, mentioning that if it offended a large group of people, that the team should consider retiring the name (Sappenfield). The term “redskins” is racist because it perpetuates stereotypes, and was first coined as an inaccurate, demeaning way to describe the first people of what is now America.
One of the biggest problems Native Americans have with sports teams using names, logos, or anything with Indian affiliation is the negative connotations associated
...oted to have them removed. After California passed the racial mscots act which banned the use of the name redskins in public middle and highschol teams, then governor Arnold schwarenegger vetoed the bill. likewise congress had passed a resolution following the crazy horse lawsuit declaring that his name could not be used in association with alcohol. The case was apleaed and overturned by federal courts. The exagrated and inaccurate use of native American images and hetratage coupled with mainstem americs refusua to disband it has had an continues to have a detrememtal impact to native American cuture and identity the American Indian mental health association claims that native Americans aare particularly vulnerable to difficulty reconciling their culurue with the modern wolrd and the use of mascots and logos are daming to self identiy, self-concept, and self-esteem.
San Diego has a long history of pride in its sports teams from high school level all the way to the professional leagues. The mascots that represent these teams are a stable part of that history and none represent the spirit of San Diego More than SDSU’s Aztec. Recently, there has been growing support to remove the Aztec from that history with the claim that he represents racial profiling. With the growing support of millennials jumping on board this action without reason or understanding of their involvement, we see a rapidly growing issue on campus. The City of San Diego and SDSU should not allow for the Aztec Mascot to be removed, as it is unreasonable without legitimate cause as every precaution has been taken to ensure it accurate representation, and the involvement of millennials is its only support.
For instance, a Native American mascot with a feather atop of his head. In many Native cultures eagle feathers are considered to be very scared and are to be worn by those who have earned them in a spiritual way. Ceremonies and traditions such as these can cause shame and show a lack of respect towards the Native Americans, when their traditions are taken out of context and background knowledge. Keeping Native Americans as mascots, logos, etc is a problematic issue that needs to be fixed. Using Native American pictures and names in sports has been a topic of controversy in the United States since the 1960’s. Another reason as to why all sports that use Native Americans as their mascots, team logo, etc should be banned is an American sociological association banned the use of the Native American logos, mascots and nicknames in sports because it harms Native American people in educational and social ways. When such cultural abuse is supported, it causes harm to Native American children and tells society and the Non-Native American
The issue of Native American mascots has been an ongoing debate. There are many sides to this argument, but the final decision should be made by the Native Americans themselves. Most people do not know where the offensive actions and words come from. The Native Americans know, because it is from their culture. They have a right to respect and dignity, because they are people. The saddest part of this problem is that it hurts children.
Sports teams that have Indian names or mascots are offensive to Native culture and their
Social science literature and scientific researches show that the mascots have serious psychological, social and cultural consequences for Native Americans, especially among Native youth. Although pro-mascot advocates say that American Indian mascots are honorific and should enhance well-being, the research demonstrates the exact opposite: those mascots do not have negative consequences because their content or meaning is inherently negative. Instead, these mascots are detrimental because they serve as some of the only public representations of Native American “culture” commonly seen throughout the mainstream American society. The lack of positive images of Native peoples associated with their invisibility creates serious psychological, social
Mascots play a much larger role in sports than a lot of people realize, not only do kids love them but adults do also. They bring entertainment during the game and also during half time, if the mascot is not visually appealing or funny than prepare to be known as the team with the terrible mascot. So one would think when teams decide to pick a mascot that will represent them, they would pick one that wouldn’t be offensive to a certain group of people. Popular sports teams like the Cleveland Indians, Florida State Seminoles, and the Washington Redskins has recently come under fire by Native American tribes who find these mascots offensive. In the book Of Warrior Chiefs and Indian Princess: The Psychological Consequences of American Indian Mascots, four studies examined the consequences of Native American mascots in some professional and college sports teams (Fryberg,et.). When shown the representation of Native Americans, American Indian students showed positive associations, but said that they had low self-esteem, low community worth, and fewer achievement related possible selves (Fryberg, et.). The authors of the study suggested that American Indian mascots are harmful because they remind American Indians of the different ways people saw them, and it also affects how they see themselves (Fryberg, et.).
Dealing with the issue of sport and ethnology, three major factors come to mind; prejudice, racism, and discrimination. These factors span across gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how these factors have played a part in the evolution of sport in our society. The first issue tackled in this paper will be racism in sports, followed by prejudice and discrimination.
Sports teams, like the Redskins, have names pertaining to Native Americans that is highly offensive to some people. Names like these have sparked high controversy on whether they should be able to identify the team as this or not. Using Native American nicknames as a name of a sport team should not be allowed for several reasons.
Instead of showing Native Americans honor, Native Americans have been depicted as uncivilized objects. Mascots of sports teams, and the fans dress up as indians which is insulting and offensive to indians, not an honor at all. Let's take the Washington Redskins for example. According to Nation Circle Redskins “refers to the bloody scalps of Indian children, women and men that were sold for bounties aside animal skins in the USA.” The name Redskins does not honor Indians it only humiliates the Native Americans reminding them of their harsh history. But the Redskins coach Dan Snyder states that he “will never change the name.” An opposing view is a 2016 Washington Post poll that found found that 9 out of 10 indians don't find the name Redskins offensive. This data is biased however because only 504 indians were polled. The population of Native American people in America is over 5