Pros And Cons Of Using Native American Mascots

“ Despite good intentions and best efforts, the stereotyping of native americans into narrow images is an undeniable consequence of choosing such names and images”( Bernard Franklin).

People are using native americans as mascots. This is problematic, because they are dehumanizing, use derogatory, racist terms, and impair race relations. This is easily fixable, and I don’t understand why it hasn’t been already. The solution? Stop using native americans as mascots.

Using a group of people as a mascot makes them seem more like an object than what they are… people. ”Using Indian mascots causes Native Americans to feel that sports teams are making a mockery of their way of life and marginalizing the way they were treated by white settlers (sara ipatenco),” they were treated terribly when we

settled the land, and we are still treating them badly. Regardless of how far we’ve come as a society we still call these groups of people racist things and expect them to be okay with it, to be good sports. If your home was invaded by a bunch of racists you would be livid, and they were. I’m sure that things would be fine if we just payed them some respect, in an effort to apologize. “The logos, along with other societal abuses and stereotypes separate, marginalize, confuse, intimidate and harm Native American children.” This is completely true. Say you’re a native american child, you don’t live on a reservation, and you face racism and praise, for what exactly? Where you’re from? It’s almost like being shown at an auction full of people judging your value based on what you look like. It just isn’t right.

These sports teams and schools use casual racism every day, sometimes without realizing it. ”Even the Merriam-Webster dictionary notes that "redskin" is a term that people should avoid using.” The washington redskins are a popular team in the NFL. this sets a terrible example for people everywhere. Do you want your children to look up to a team like this? A dictionary isn’t filled with opinions, it’s filled with facts. If this wasn’t true, it wouldn’t be there. "Redskins is kind of a slang word,I can see why people would be offended by it(Trey Lawrence)." This is in the simplest terms but is still incredibly true. The fact that this can be said so casually is heartbreaking. Things like this are ridiculous and the fact that this word is potentially on tv every day for thousands of people see is terrible. Children see this term regularly and it isn’t right.

On top of all this native American mascots impair race relations.

”[it] Is a form of discrimination against American Indian Nations that can lead to negative relations between groups (American Psychological Association).” One of these negative relations are undermining a native person’s, or any other minority’s, education. This isn’t uncommon. Another issue is that this presents is an unwelcoming hostile learning environment for young people because of the stereotypes they have thrown at them every day. ”The symbols, images and mascots teach non-Indian children that it's acceptable to participate in culturally abusive behavior and perpetuate inaccurate misconceptions about American Indian culture(American Psychological Association).” This is bad in places outside of schools, such as workplaces. Imagine being paid less for doing a harder job, being forced to sit and eat outside of the faculty room because, your “co-workers” won’t stop asking you stupid, racist questions about “your culture”, and using racial slurs about you behind your back. This is an everyday struggle you’d have to deal with. The fact that they can’t feel completely safe isn’t fair, it isn’t

right.

But what if we got permission from the tribe for our mascot?! “Some people claim that Native American people should feel ‘honored’ that they are being represented by schools and sports teams (hcps-landrumce),” and yes this is a valid point, but I disagree with it. Sure if you’ve gotten permission to have a culturally accurate, and non racist native american mascot I’m all for it, but this just doesn’t happen. The problem is that if and when you have a culturally accurate mascot people will think that any old native american mascot is perfectly fine. Any old mascot isn’t okay; you see if one team needs a name and doesn’t understand the administrative process, the cycle happens all over again. It’s a vicious cycle, and it won’t stop.

The racism needs to stop, and the solution is simple. Just stop using these cruel mascots. It’s wrong, it’s racist, it’s dehumanizing, and it impairs race relations. None of it helps anyone, so why is it still going on?